THE firm planning to shut St Rollox works should not be allowed to simply walk away and leave 200 workers out of a job and the facility shout down an MSP has argued.

Patrick Harvie Green MSP for Glasgow said companies need to accept responsibilities for communities and not just abandon assets when it no longer suits their profit motive.

Gemini Rail are proposing to close the Springburn site which has existed for 160 years providing work for generations of people..

Workers have been served with a 45-day consultation notice which runs out on March 4.

Mr Harvie spoke in a debate in Holyrood on efforts to save the depot and said there were “deeper issues about ownership” to be addressed.

Mr Harvie said: “Very few of us would suggest that the private sector should have no role at all in a modern economy, but too often at present private ownership comes with rights and not responsibilities, and we do not expect enough in terms of the commitment that owners need to show to the communities that they are engaged with.”

He said Gemini is just the latest owner over the years and it is showing contempt for the community.

He added: “We are in a situation where a company that has owned the asset for not much more than five minutes can recognise it not as an asset of importance to the community and the economy but merely part of its economic portfolio and can decide to dispose of it in this way.

“ To announce that in the run-up to Christmas showed nothing short of contempt for the community that is affected.

“We need to challenge the notion that private ownership confers absolute rights but not responsibilities to invest in and protect the people who are affected by the decisions that owners make.”

Nick Fitzwater, Managing Director of Gemini, said: “Gemini Rail Services launched into a programme of proactively engaging with key stakeholders over alternative ideas for the site in December and this is ongoing.

“As we have stated, our priority is to our workforce and ensuring they are kept fully informed of the situation through detailed consultation meetings with employees and their representatives.

“This includes updating them on the many stakeholder meetings, in which we continue to engage.”