James Mills is a web developer in the North East of England and founder of Refresh Teesside »
Mike Hughes is the Head of Business for the Evening Gazette. He will be blogging on all matters of importance to Teesside businesses - and some that are just worth knowing »
Jez Davison, business writer at the Evening Gazette, is a regular blogger on all things business - particularly finance, entrepreneurship and the state of the Teesside economy » 
Karen McLauchlan is the Evening Gazette's deputy business and features editor - with special interest in all things industry, property and arts related » 
Jeremy Middleton is a venture capitalist and the co-founder of FTSE-200 company HomeServe » 
Deloitte, which has 23 offices across the UK including Newcastle, is among the country's leading professional services firms » 
ClimateNE & Climate Change Schools Project support the move to a low-carbon, resilient economy and help businesses avoid risk and realise commercial opportunities. Posts by Jen Atkinson, Krista McKinzey and Harriet Thew » There will be plenty of sympathy in the North East for the plight of Bradford & Bingley employees who are turning up for work this morning completely in the dark about what the future holds for them.
If anything, their future must be in even graver doubt than that of the thousands of Northern Rock workers who were plunged into similar uncertainty when their own employer was taken into the hands of the Treasury.
Personally I feel extremely saddened that the B&B will now cease to exist in any recognisable form and certainly as an independent financial institution.
Having grown up just a few miles from Bingley and worked as a business journalist in Bradford for many years, I know many people who work at the B&B.
I also know just how important the bank is for the region and especially for the Bradford district which has taken its fair share of knocks over the years.
Now is not the time for apportioning blame over the B&B's demise.
However, it is extremely telling that its downfall signals the end for the final former building society which underwent demutualisation around the turn of the century and had survived as an independent institution.
There were grave concerns about what would happen to these proud organisations when they were placed at the behest of shareholders rather than their members.
It gives me no satisfaction to say that those have now come home to roost in quite spectacular fashion.
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