Jobs look set to go from Ford at Dunton and Aveley after cutbacks were announced by the car giant.

Ford is offering voluntary redundancies to 680 workers throughout the country in a bid "to improve efficiency".

Dunton is expected to shed four positions, Aveley 20 but the company has said it is not looking to lose any jobs from its Basildon radiator factory in Christopher Martin Road.

Most of the jobs will go from its Halewood and Dagenham sites which have each been earmarked to lose more than 200 jobs each.

The US-owned company said it aimed to achieve 625 hourly paid and 55 staff redundancies.

Ford has stressed the redundancies are voluntary and that workers aged between 50-54 years-old would be offered the chance to take early retirement, rather than having to wait until they are 55.

The cutback is part of Ford's drive to further improve efficiency and competitiveness, said a spokesman.

He added: "We are not looking for voluntary redundancies at the Basildon factory plant and just a minimal amount from Dunton. At Aveley we will be looking for about 20 redundancies."

The voluntary programme will begin immediately and finish towards the end of July.

The plant at Dagenham is on short time working, which is expected to continue until the end of the month, because of a slowdown in European sales.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.