A SUPER-LUXURIOUS trailer for use by the likes of golf legends Nick Faldo, Trevor Immelman and Tiger Woods on the PGA European tour, has now been completed by York-based Pocklington Coachworks.

The trailer, described as "phenomenal", is the first major good news to come out of the Osbaldwick engineering firm since its devastating announcement in April that it was to make nearly a third of its 90 workforce redundant.

The firm is known throughout the Formula 1 racing world for its custom-built race trailers and hospitality units.

The trailers for the Williams and Toyota teams as well as for superbike teams, HM Plant Ducati and Castrol Honda, are symbols of their prestige.

But managing director Fran Johnson had to cut 28 jobs when racing teams began to tighten their budgets.

Completion of the PGA European Tour trailer commissioned by Nike Golf is seen by Mr Johnson as a good opportunity to show how diverse his company can be.

He said: "Pocklington's is already renowned throughout the motorsport industry for the quality and excellence of its products and we are delighted to have been given the opportunity to demonstrate this to a wider market through the Nike Golf European Tour service unit."

The vehicle is a custom-built workshop and hospitality unit, which has been specifically designed to cater for all the needs of professional golf players.

A meeting room and lounge area in the front of the unit are fitted out with top-of-the-range seating and wall coverings. A plasma screen links to both a computer system and digital television, with a five-speaker surround sound DVD and music system. PlayStation facilities will also be available for a virtual round of golf.

A workshop area for the repair, alteration and development of all the Nike golf equipment used by the pros on tour, carries essential equipment such as spare shafts, iron heads, driver and fairway heads and grips.

The machinery incorporated into the unit will supply a state-of-the-art service for Nike Golf's leading products. Both areas are fully air-conditioned and are separated by smoked glass sliding doors.

The chassis cab is an 18-ton Renault Premium sleeper cab with a body length of eight metres, including lower lockers for additional storage. Another additional feature is a 15kva "silent run" generator for when landline operation is not available.

John Trainor, Nike Golf's European general manager, said: "We deliberately chose Pocklington's because of its great pedigree and from the work that they have completed for McLaren F1 and Carl Foggarty. They created a bespoke vehicle for us encompassing our specific requirements and the end result is phenomenal."

Updated: 10:17 Tuesday, May 27, 2003