Workers were given just one hour’s notice that they were losing their jobs this morning.

Agency staff at BMW’s Cowley car plant who had been working through the night said they were told at 5.30am they were being made redundant at 6.30am when their shift ended.

But BMW said it given staff a full, seven day's notice and they would be paid for the coming weekend when they would have been working.

The way the company handled the announcement that 850 temporary and agency staff were being laid off was described as “appalling” by the man whose jobs it was to negotiate a change in shift patterns to stave off further redundancies.

Union convenor Bernard Moss said: “I believe it is appalling. That’s is not the way you do things.

“Unfortunately the union has taken the blame, not the bosses.”