Staff of the Solent Motor Group are relieved after being allowed to return to the company's closed garages to reclaim the tools, worth thousands of pounds.

Employees feared for their possessions when they turned up for work on Friday to find out the company, which owned Solent Citroen, Solent Nissan and Solent Mazda on London Road, Hilsea, had filed for administration.

Along with customers' cars, toolboxes owned by staff were left locked up inside the garages at Solent Nissan and Solent Citroen with no one around to allow access onto the sites.

The sudden closure on pay-day left employees in the dark over whether they could get their hands on their kit and whether they would get paid.

Yesterday afternoon company directors allowed staff to reclaim their tools while bankers from Royal Bank of Scotland worked inside to valuate the business.

Staff scrambled for their possessions, loading up pick-up trucks and vans borrowed from friends with their heavy machinery.

Iain McFarlane, 24, worked as an MOT technician at Solent Nissan and had £7,000 worth of tools locked inside the garage.

He said: 'I'm pleased to have all my tools back. I knew I would get them back eventually but I'm glad that it was sooner rather than later because I need them so I can go and get another job.'

Chris Brennan, 24, worked as a mechanic at the garage. He said: 'It was a bit of a rush for the tools but everyone was chuffed to get their stuff back.

'I had about £10,000 worth of tools in there. Another lad who worked at Solent Mazda had £30,000 worth of tools.

'The only thing left to get back now is our money. They owe me two months' wages plus overtime and a bonus that I had earned.'

It is still unclear whether the 73 staff employed by Solent Motor Group will see any of their wages.

Chris Hockey, director of Solent Nissan, said: 'The situation at the moment is we're looking to appoint an administrator and until this is done we won't be able to pay wages. We're working hard to get cars back to customers.'