Justice and life rarely seem to go hand in hand. Take my latest assignment at Royal Brierley Crystal for instance.

Glass production at its base in Dudley will cease next month after 231 years.

The name will live on as its owners Dartington continue to produce glassware under its name in Devon.

But that’s a bit like producing Worcestershire Sauce in Newcastle. The fact is that Royal Brierley will no longer exist after July 27.

Even more importantly five workers, skilled in the art of traditional glassware production, will lose their jobs.

These are men who have dedicated their working lives to keeping the name of Royal Brierley alive.

Sometimes this has meant travelling far beyond the call of duty – working through the early hours when there have been technical difficulties at the plant, making their own equipment due to a lack of investment from above.

The fact there is still a Royal Brierley brand to take to Devon is purely down to the sweat, graft and sheer bloody-minded will of these Black Country men.

They fulfilled their side of the bargain by continuing to produce some of the finest handmade crystal on the planet – the quality of which still sees the Royal Family ordering hundreds of items every year.

Sadly they have been let down by those charged with marketing and selling their products. Cheap foreign imports are blamed for the downturn in business.

But it’s difficult to believe there is still not a place in the market for the high-quality, handmade glass carrying the Royal seal of approval which the men in Dudley make.

The history of the firm is surely a major selling point. But that heritage has just been signed away with a flourish of an accountant’s pen.

Dartington will continue to use the Royal Brierley name, but we in the Black Country will know better.

That name has been stripped of its legitimacy and meaning. One can only assume Dartington do not profit from keeping the brand but axing the Dudley factory.

Why should those at the top prosper at the expense of those who have provided all the heart, soul and effort?

By Andy Toft