DOZENS of staff at a Hampshire printers agreed to continue working despite bosses being unable to pay them.

The future of historic Ringwood printers Brown & Son now lies in the hands of creditors after a cash flow problem left the firm unable to pay staff and forced bosses to lay off 26 people.

Thirty-three loyal workers at the 200-year-old firm elected to keep working without guarantee of payment.

Former staff have told of their shock at hearing the company had run out of cash, even though it had beaten sales targets by £200,000.

One worker, who did not want to be named, said they were owed thousands of pounds.

"The Friday before pay-day we were informed that there was no money to pay salaries. We were in shock because we had ended the year more than £200,000 over budget.

"There was dismay as people scurried off to the bank or to get money from somewhere.

"I've been having nightmares about it ever since. I'm completely devastated."

Another member of staff said he was owed £5,000 and didn't expect to see any of it.

Brown & Son, which has big-name clients such as the RNLI and Oxford University Press, has now scaled back its 2005 turnover forecast from £5m to under £3m.

The crisis was bought to a head when the bank refused boss Malcolm Kennedy's request for an overdraft extension to cover his workers' wages.

Mr Kennedy, who bought the firm with wife Miriam in July 2003, said telling staff he couldn't pay them was one of the hardest things he had done.

"It was the second worst day of my life. The worst was the following Wednesday when I had to make 26 people redundant," he said.

"Thirty-three remained on a voluntary basis knowing that we couldn't pay the wages and with no certainty that we would be able to pay the following month's wages."

Staff who stayed have now received some of January's money and should, ultimately, receive it all, as well as February's wages.

Mr Kennedy put the company's difficulties down to the "wrong mix" of orders, which left the company with big bills.