LONDON mayor Boris Johnson visited Keighley to meet staff at a booming business that makes high-tech clamps for engine exhausts – including those for his own ‘Boris Buses’.

Global success Teconnex has doubled its workforce to 400 in the past six years, and has just finished a £2 million expansion programme at its Chesham Street headquarters.

Turnover has virtually doubled in the same period and is forecast to hit £28 million in the current financial year, with 80 per cent of products for export.

Prospective MP Mr Johnson joined Keighley MP Kris Hopkins last Wednesday for an hour-long tour of the production site, where he met new employees Ryan Storton, 19 and Ian Dade, 31. Mr Storton said the company’s growing success meant everyone was enthusiastic.

“This is my first job and it’s just a brilliant place,” he said.

Teconnex makes sophisticated ring clamps that join metal tubing – especially in exhaust and turbo systems for all combustion-powered vehicles, be they trucks, Boris Buses or the new Eurofighter.

“This is an amazing success story achieved with courage and vision,” Mr Johnson said.

“They saw the market for these clamps was growing and they really piled in. They’ve been very clever in spotting a market for this very high-spec stuff.”

Managing director, Paul Sleaford, said: “We are actively recruiting at the moment so a visit like this is great because it raises our profile at a time when we are looking for more engineers.”

Mr Hopkins said the firm provided a classic example of how the north of England was contributing to the UK economy.

“In Keighley and across the north, people want to make that contribution,” he said.

“Keighley has a huge history of manufacturing, and this is niche engineering turning into massive success.”

Teconnex is Keighley’s largest private employer and was born out of a merger of two former clamp manufacturers, Connectors and Smith & Johnson.