Former company sources said the final number could rise higher as a swathe of angry subcontractors are left holding worthless invoices.

One disgruntled trade contractor blocked Shaylor’s company car park last Friday.

A source said: “The management used that as an excuse to send us home for ‘our own safety’.

“Then they told everyone by email on that Sunday that the company was going into administration and we were out of a job.”

Another former employee added: “Rumours were circulating about money problems at the firm but we were assured from the top it was business as usual despite the market going through a tricky period.

“The news came as a real shock to most of us but what really hurt was the cowardly way we were told over the weekend.

“The directors should have done the decent thing and told us to our face what had happened.”

The Enquirer first started receiving complaints from Shaylor subcontractors last year over delayed payments and extensions of credit terms.

One said: “We have been strung along by Shaylor management and yet again it is the supply chain which suffers the most.”