Ford is to shut one of its south Essex plants with the loss of 150 jobs.

A top-level meeting of managers agreed the closure of the Aveley plant, in Arisdale Avenue, South Ockendon, and the news was broken to staff late yesterday.

The plant, which employs 550 people, has been a cornerstone of the company's development in south Essex for almost 50 years, but is expected to shut in the summer.

Work carried out by the remaining 400 workers will be transferred to other centres, including Dunton. The company hopes all jobs will go through voluntary redundancy.

Published Tuesday January 27, 2004

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