Norton motorcycles together, with its engine division Villiers, were one of only two motorcycle firms left in Britain. In 1976 the Labour minister for Industry Tony Benn decided to rescue one of these firms from bankruptcy by forming a workers’ cooperative. He chose Triumph rather than Nortons probably for political reasons. Nortons produced a far superior product and had a revolutionary design in development. The photographs show the appalling underinvestment that management had made in the manufacturing process, and the tension involved in the sad demise of the company.