Meals on wheels supplier Emjays is closing its doors just four weeks before Christmas - with the potential loss of up to 10 jobs.

Staff at the company, based on Middle River Industrial Estate in Pulrose, were informed without warning on Thursday last week that the company was to close.

Customers have been told that the business is closing ’due to unforeseen circumstances’.

Deliveries will continues as normal this week and next but will end on Friday December 7.

’We can only apologise for this short notice and we thank each and every one of our customers that have used our service,’ Emjays said in a letter to customers.

The firm began offering meals on wheels in February, after the controversial ending of the government contract with Age Concern in November 2017, a move which the Department of Health and Social Care hailed as a £150,000-a-year saving.

A member of staff who wished to remain anonymous told the Examiner that the move came as a ’surprise’ to staff and that up to 10 of them could be out of work before Christmas.

Emjays owner Martin Logan, who took over as director in September, declined to comment but did move to reassure customers.

He said: ’We will be continuing doing meals on wheels while we help our customers find alternative suppliers.’

Emjays had teamed up with Isle of Man Post Office to deliver meals to homes on a trial basis.

A Post Office spokesman said: ’The Post Office undertook a successful chilled meal delivery trial for Emjays in early summer.

’The Post Office remained available to support Emjays on request, but had not heard from them for several months.’

It is not known how many customers have been affected by the closure, which is the latest disruption for users of meals on wheels services this year.

Age Concern’s service ended on January 18, after the charity’s contract with the DHSC was not renewed.

Frozen food supplier Jack Frost had started offering deliveries to meals on wheels recipients but announced it was closing in February, before reversing that decision just days later and remaining open, only to then close in April.

Emjays had invested a lot of money on creating its state of the art kitchen facilities.

Its closure will leave two meals on wheels suppliers - Top Banana based in Saddlestone and UK frozen food company Wiltshire Farm Foods, based in the Spring Valley Industrial Estate.

A DHSC spokesman said: ’The company is one of several private firms operating in this area, but the department has no involvement nor commissions any operator to deliver a service.’

* We’ve been asked to point out that James McCance is no longer a director of Emjays, and has not has any involvement in the company since resigning as director and secretary on September 6 this year.

Miss Blakely and Mr Forrest, who were pictured with this story on the front page of this week’s Examiner, also no longer have any connection to the company.