Staff at three east Kent shoe stores have been made redundant at short notice.

Employees at Peter Newman Shoes, whose head office is at the Eddington Business Park, Herne Bay, were handed their notice last Wednesday morning and paid their remaining wages by close of business on Friday.

The stores in St Margaret’s Street, Canterbury, Margate and Hastings have closed, affecting an estimated 11 staff.

Directors were unavailable for comment, but held consultations with affected staff throughout Friday.

Sales assistant Sandra Percival was among those made redundant.

“We’ve been given absolutely no warning that this was coming,” she said.

“We all turned up to work on Wednesday morning to be told we had just an hour and a half to collect our things and leave the premises, just like that.

“We’ve been handed our last month’s salary, but as yet no redundancy pay.”

Peter Newman Shoes employs 84 staff at its remaining 12 branches in Kent and East Sussex.