ONE of Yorkshire's leading and longest-established recruitment agencies, Rotherwood Recruitment, has ventured across the border for the first time by opening a new office in East Lancashire.

Based in Albert Road, Colne, the office launch is in direct response to business expansion in the region.

Chairman Dennis Pagdin, who founded the company in Keighley in 1976, said the agency's services were in increasing demand by companies in East Lancashire, where he described the jobs market as "extremely buoyant."

The new Colne office is being run by existing employee Tony Hennigan, of Skipton, and newly-appointed Janet Wellock, of Barnoldswick.

Tony heads up Rotherwood's specialist driver hire division, established in 1995 and now one of the largest such operations in the company's Yorkshire heartland, with increasing demand being experienced from firms in East Lancashire.

Janet, 36, who is handling commercial and industrial placements, formerly worked for a major commercial contracts organisation with offices in Preston and Manchester.

She and her husband Paul also ran a pet shop, "Pets' World," in Barnoldswick.