Company to axe 200 jobs

Plastic Omnium, based at Halesfield 7, Telford, runs two operations from the site - Automotive and Urban Systems. Both will be moved to Measham, Derbyshire, with the loss of 170 jobs from the car part manufacturing side and a further 28 in the urban systems side.

The closures of two of the major car manufacturing companies in the UK - Rover and Peugeot - were blamed for the closure of the Telford site.

Plastic Omnium produces bumpers for the vehicles.

Adeline Mickeler, for Plastic Omnium, said: "We have two activities in Telford.

"The major one is the automotive one and the second smaller one which is for environment activity where we produce waste containers.

"The number of jobs which will be lost will be 170 for the automotive business and 28 for the urban systems.

"A public consultation is under way and we have a project to close the plant in autumn 2007.

"I don't think the jobs could be saved because most of the automotive activity will be transferred to another UK site in Measham."

Miss Mickeler added: "The major cause for this closure is the situation of the automotive production in the UK, with the closure of Rover last year and the announcement of the closure of Peugeot in January next year.

"We worked for both of these companies in Telford."

Staff at the Halesfield site made the front and rear bumpers for the Peugeot 206 and also for many of the Rover models.

The latest job losses comes in the same month as AVF Group, based on the Hortonwood Industrial Estate, which has been in Telford for nearly 30 years, announced it would be moving its manufacturing base to China with the loss of 60 jobs. It is the latest in a series of blows for the borough, which has seen more than 1,500 jobs lost or threatened in the past year.

Celestica, Maxell, Samsung, Ogihara and the Defence Logistics Organisation at Sapphire House have all shed staff or announced that jobs will go.

By Kirsty Marston