Car production at Oxford's Mini plant will come to a halt for a weekend next month after a fall in sales.

Staff at BMW's Cowley plant have expressed concern at the shutdown, which will be followed by an extended Christmas closure.

The German carmaker has admitted the decision was made to "reflect changes in sales and demand". But it would not be drawn on whether further shifts would be affected.

Bernard Moss, union convener for the plant, said: "This is the first shutdown purely due to the effect of a fall in sales since 2001.

"It is not surprising given the current global economic situation, which is being felt everywhere.

"There is obviously apprehension and concern. Since 2001 half the workforce has never seen anything other than production going up and up and up.

Mr Moss said BMW offer a flexi-time style approach to their production workers called a Working Time Account.

Under the agreement workers can build up extra hours by doing more at the end of their shifts.

In the November shutdown, production staff will get paid — but lose the equivalent of those shifts from their Working Time Account.

Those with insufficient time in their accounts will owe the company for the period they are not working and have to work extra shifts, Mr Moss explained.

He added that production had ceased for two weeks in 2005 in order to improve factory facilities, but the November closure was the first shutdown purely because of a fall in demand in seven years.

Production at the plant was also halted for a weekend in June this year when a strike by Spanish lorry drivers meant vital parts could not be delivered to the factory.

A BMW spokesman said: "This is a situation we need to keep an eye on. It is a challenging economic climate. As far as we are concerned we are likely to produce the same amount of cars this year as we did last year.

"We are simply making changes to the shift patterns in order to reflect sales and demands."

On Thursday the Oxford Mail revealed BMW saw global Mini sales fall 5.5 per cent in September compared to the same month last year.

UK Mini sales also fell to 7,116 this September from 8,764 in September 2007 — a 19 per cent drop.

Workers at the plant, which employs more than 4,500 people, were told the factory would shutdown for an extended period from Thursday, December 18 to Monday, January 5.

Production worker Malcolm Collins, 58, from Wantage, added: "The workers knew this was on the cards. There had been rumours about it for a couple of weeks.

"A lot of the agency labour is worried their jobs will be at risk."

The average BMW production staff member is expected to work a 37-hour shift per week.

Last night one production worker who has been employed at the plant for more than 15 years, said: "There is a lot of uncertainty because the company will not tell us what is going on. There is very low morale. A lot of people are worried."

The Oxford Mail asked BMW to comment on several questions, including: *Workers are worried about their jobs — particularly agency staff. What reassurances can you give those workers?

*Will permanent BMW staff be laid off and will agency staff be laid off?

*Does the company expect changes to the amount of agency staff it uses over the next six months?

*Do you anticipate further stand-down periods in the future?

*Do you anticipate more changes to shift patterns?

In a statement, BMW spokesman Rebecca Baxter said: "Over the last seven years, Mini has enjoyed strong sales in nearly 80 markets around the world.

"Since 2001, Plant Oxford has produced more than 1.3 million Minis, of which over one million were exported.

"And so far this year, despite an increasingly challenging economic climate, we have already produced and sold over 184,000 cars, 12.1 per cent more than the same period last year.

"One of the great strengths of Mini production is that we have a flexible three-shift system.

"Since the very start of production here in 2001, we have adjusted production volume, via shift patterns and shift lengths, in order to meet exactly the market demand. We communicate sales and production information to our associates on a weekly basis, along with any adjustments to individual work patterns in full co-operation with the plant's union reps.

"As a plant, we have seen fluctuations in the production programme since the very beginning and deal with this on a weekly basis. As soon as a customer orders a car, we build it for them.

"By the end of this year we expect to have produced about the same number of cars as last year."