Carillion worker writes novel
A former Carillion worker has produced his very own debut novel – in the wake of the company's collapse.
Nick France, who worked at the firm as a reward analysis, decided to write his book – The Skin Traders – since the company's liquidation last year.
A reward analysis organises the benefits for the company.
Nick, from Norton Canes in Cannock, said: "I started writing about three years ago. I had an idea for a book.
"I started to jot them down and build the the story from there, but it's hard to write alongside working and playing in a band.
"The Carillion shares dropped after that, but we didn't see the company crashing down. Then when it crashed in January, it gave me a little more time.
"I was made redundant at the end of August, so it gave me a good time to get it finished.
"It’s about a year ago now that Carillion crashed and bought misery to many, including myself, as I was working as a Reward Analyst out of Wolverhampton.
"I was finally made redundant on August 31.
"I then had a couple of months out of work, applying for jobs and had some great assistance from the lovely folk at Cannock Job Centre.
"So a positive thing that came out of a negative one.
"The first one is complete, but I just started the second – unrelated to the first."
A sequel to the book is current under pre-production, titled Zero Gravity Season Five.
The 54-year-old, who had a band called Dance Floor Deluxe for four years, said losing his job allowed him to pursue his dream.
He added: "I think the experience helped.
"It's always like you've got your eggs in one basket, but financially you've got problems.
"So it gives me the inspiration and I've always loved writing."
He added: "I've worked for them for about 15 years. We knew well in advance what my finish date was going to be and we were there tiding it up.
"It was sad, really, but we had quite a lot of time to get used to it.
"I'm doing some bits of part-time work and bits of music, looking at a bit of guitar teaching. The writing is my main focus, though.
"My options are wide open and I will look at it as a positive future.
"People have enjoyed it and I've had some people give five-star reviews.
"It features lots of twists and turns, so nobody will know what the end will be."
The former University of Wolverhampton student, who studied Computer Science at 2003, said: "It's a story of ordinary people being cable of extraordinary things."
