parent company went from strife and crisis to crisis throughout the 1970s. In 1981, British Leyland, as part of its consolidation process, announced to the Rearsby management, the plant was to close. The management team, led by Ivor Vaughan, believed in the future of the business and organised/created the first British Leyland management buy-out (MBO) in 1982, indeed one of the very early UK MBOs. Rearsby Automotive Ltd was resurrected. The business continued to expand winning business with Nissan, Honda, Toyota and VW, designing and developing all the products it supplied for its customer vehicles. This included supplying components in high volume to vehicle plants in Japan. The company also adopted lean manufacturing philosophies. Sales had grown to £29m in 1996. The original MBO team sold the business in 1996 to Adwest group but the business failed in 2003. The site, now Rearsby Business Park, is still owned by the original MBO team. Following the failure of Adwest to nurture and grow the business and the closure in 2003, the MBO team spent over £2m renovating and improving the buildings and site with the principal aim of re-establishing employment back to Gaddesby Lane. As of 2017, some 200 are employed on site. For further reading/information on Rearsby Automotive Ltd see: www.rearsbyautomotive.co.uk Gallery References External links Rearsby.net Rearsby at the Leicestershire Villages website Villages in Leicestershire Civil parishes in Leicestershire Borough of Charnwood