MORE than 1,600 Ford employees in Hampshire have been sent on training courses indefinitely because there is no work for them to do.

Production at the motor giant's plant at Swaythling, Southampton, has ground to a halt because of a strike at its sister factory in Belgium.

Essential supplies of metal panels have not been getting through from Genk, where workers are involved in an acrimonious industrial dispute over the 3,000 planned lay-offs.

Up to 375 Ford Transit vans a day are made at Swaythling, with a showroom value of £5 million.

Corporate affairs manager Tom Malcolm today confirmed that all production has temporarily ended.

He said: "All we can do is keep a daily watch on the situation. Everyone is going to work as normal.

"A lot of training is going on because production has ceased.

"The workers and management have been working really positive together, and everyone is being kept fully in the picture.

"There is a really positive spirit of co-operation."

The profitable Southampton factory normally works a two-shift system, producing the Transits, along with buses and chassis-cab units, every day.

It is a jewel in the crown for Ford, which has seen European business elsewhere rack up losses due to a price war and weak demand.

As reported by the Daily Echo last week, a visit to the plant by transport minister David Jamieson had to be postponed at the 11th hour because production was not at full tilt.

But the full extent of the problem on the factory floor only emerged at the weekend.

A Ford spokesman said sales are not expected to be lost, adding: "We expect to be able to catch up when supplies resume."

The Daily Echo also previously reported a threat by a union activist at Genk, who said: "We will hit Ford where it hurts."

Discussions with unions in Belgium are reported to be "progressing", with formal talks on the 3,000 redundancies expected to begin soon.