Ford reveals details of closure of Swaythling Transit factory in Southampton

With just ten days before the historic plant in Swaythling closes, the Daily Echo was given a guided tour of the site as workers prepare to down tools for the last time.

All 531 employees working at the factory have either chosen redeployment within Ford, voluntary redundancy or early retirement.

A total of 41 employees have taken up positions in other Ford locations and 41 have taken up employment opportunities outside the company.

It is expected the site will be secured for employment use and Ford will hold discussions with the local authority and other stakeholders on the options for marketing and re-use.

John Oldham, plant manager (below), said: "No decision has been made on the future of the building.

"We and doing environmental studies and planning studies, and looking at the legal aspects.

"We are working with local authorities because we would like to see the site used for employment."

It is estimated that more than 2.2 million Transits have been made in Southampton in the past 40 years - a third of the entire number of company has produced worldwide - with production now switching to Turkey, where Ford said costs were ''significantly lower'' than anywhere in Europe, even after delivery charges.

The company said that capacity at the plant in Kocaeli was much bigger than in Southampton which produced around 28,000 vans last year, compared with 185,000 in Turkey.

Rob Fletcher, 33, from St Denys, has worked at the plant as a specialist vehicle operative for eight years.

He said: "It has gone from a surreal feeling to one where reality hits.

"Although it has been hard to carry on as normal over the last eight months, working here makes it easy to take your mind off it."

Mark McDonald, 49, from Regent's Park, has worked at the plant 23 years.

He said: "Now everyone wants to get it over with.

"I cannot fault Ford. When the closure was announced I thought everyone was going to be out of work.

"But they helped us. I'm now going to join a window cleaning franchise.

"It's very strange. These are people you've worked with for 23 years. It will be very emotional."

Paul Bond Paul Bond

Paul Bond, 54, from West End, has worked at the factory for 25 years.

He said: "You cannot stop what has happened and most people would like to have stayed on but we have to move on with our lives now.

"It's a surreal feeling. It's sad for everyone, even the businesses in the surrounding area."

A vehicle distribution centre costing £12 million is being created at Southampton docks with a vehicle refurbishment centre being set up at the plant site.

The spokesman said: ''The distribution centre will form part of Ford's logistics operations, involved in import vehicle handling and onward distribution, and the shipping of engines to China. Low mileage used vehicles will be processed by the refurbishment centre for supply to the Ford Direct sales programme.''

The last Transit to be produced at Southampton would be added to the company's 100-vehicle heritage collection, he added.

The spokesman added: ''Ford has been conducting studies into the Southampton and Dagenham stamping and tooling sites. The studies cover areas such as environmental remediation, legal and planning matters and future potential uses of the sites.

''It is expected that the sites will be secured for employment usage and Ford will hold detailed discussions with local authorities and other key stakeholders on the options for their marketing and re-use.''