Bombardier (Horbury) to close.

[administrator]

DEVASTATED workers at the doomed Bombardier train plant at Wakefield returned to their jobs today knowing they will be out of work by the end of next year.

Yesterday, company bosses in Canada sounded the death knell for the factory and its 400 workers at Horbury Junction, just six years after it landed a £1 billion contract to supply and maintain a fleet of trains for Richard Branson's Virgin Rail.

Millions of pounds were sunk into new facilities at the plant, but work is running out and Bombardier now says it must cut costs.

In all it is axing 6,600 jobs at plants in England, Switzerland, Germany, Portugal and Sweden and in Canada and the United States. It claims some of its sites are working at less than 50 per cent capacity.

At Horbury Junction and the Bombardier plant at Doncaster, workers were told of the shutdown plans yesterday. Horbury Junction workers were given half a day off.

They have accused Bombardier of sacrificing their factory and jobs to save the company's main train building plant in Derby.

The Horbury Junction works will close towards the end of next year when current contracts run out.

Today Terry Cunliffe, at the regional office of Amicus, which represents many of the workers, said: "It is devastating for the people who work at Bombardier who are very highly motivated and skilled."

A Bombardier spokesman said some workers may be able to move to another site, adding the firm would do all it could to help staff find jobs.