A TEXTILE engineering firm in Huddersfield has been dealt a double blow by the unfolding crisis in the Middle East.

Carpet-making machinery manufacturer Sellers Engineers Ltd is owed almost £140,000 from a contract completed for a customer in Libya.

And it has now been left unable to complete another key contract in Iran following the political row between the UK and the Middle Eastern country.

The Deighton-based firm, which employs 70 people, has warned that its future could be at risk if it fails to get paid for the Libyan contract.

And chairman David Armitage has told UK politicians that the so-called “Arab Spring” looked like turning out to be a “monumental disaster” for exporters such as Sellers.

Mr Armitage has hit out in letters to Prime Minister David Cameron and Edward Oakden, a senior director of government export support arm, UK Trade & Investment.

Mr Armitage said Sellers Engineering completed its contract with Tripoli Carpet Company in Libya in February and was due payment totalling £137,250 in March and April.

But the amount is still outstanding following the imposition of UK and European sanctions and the freezing of Libyan assets in the wake of the Arab Spring uprising.

Continued conflict in the region means it is uncertain when sanctions may be lifted and normal trading can resume.

In his letter, Mr Armitage said: “Tripoli Carpet Company has purchased nearly £2m of machinery from us in the last seven years using the same method of payment.

“Basically, we find ourselves between a rock and a hard place. The debt represents 25% of our borrowing facilities and unless we have the funds soon it could jeopardise the future of our company.”

He added: “Our company is privately-owned, established in 1912 and exports account for 95% of our turnover, which last year was £7m.

“We are encouraged to export by the government and Libya fell under that remit.

“Sellers Engineering needs help quickly – and perhaps as a country we should look after our own companies and the employees and their families who depend on us for a living.”

In the case of Iran, Sellers Engineering is ready to fly out two men to install and commission a carpet finishing line for a long-standing customer in Mashad.

Sellers has received 90% of the £1.16m value of the contract, but Mr Armitage said Foreign Secretary William Hague’s “knee-jerk” reaction to expel the Iranian embassy staff in London meant Sellers could no longer get the visas for its employees to enter the country.

Mr Armitage said: “Sellers has a fantastic name in the Iran carpet industry where we have supplied many machines going back to the 1970s and these people have full trust in us.

“These people are businessmen, not politicians and they are wonderful people. Over 35 years and more, we have made high quality machinery, which they want and delivered it on time.

“Now what should we do? We are being asked to export and find new markets. This is what we have done with no help whatsoever.”

He said Sellers had been successful in landing a “good” order in Turkey, which would mean work for the factory at Trident Business Park into the first quarter of next year.

While North and South American markets had slumped, the company was also pursuing leads in China and a number of former Soviet Union states.