gemma richardson finally managed to find new work, but it's been traumatic.ed dreaming about it, nightmares, bills. oh, it's just awful. it's a horrible, horrible situation to be in. once we got, you know, the e—mail and we left maplin, it was... it's like a race to get a job, and you're against people you know are really good at what they do. and for natasha, who also worked at maplin, the stakes were even higher. one month before it all happened, i was like, "i'm going to lose the house. i've literallyjust bought it. i'm turning 25 in a month's time. i'm not where i should be." maplin sold electronics, but the internet giant amazon did it better and cheaper. maplin was very much a victim of the amazon effect. and like toys r us, maplin was laden with debt. and when times got tough, when sales started to fall, it exposed their weaknesses, because both toys r us and maplin were fundamentally weak businesses to begin with. injune, poundworld collapsed — another 5000 jobs. others were also feeling the strain. by then, i'd spent months reporting on a host of hou