Once again Oxford made the national headlines – for all the wrong reasons.

BMW has axed 850 jobs at its Cowley plant.

Let us not forget that each one of those job losses affects a whole family – plunging spouses, children and, in the case of many workers, elderly dependents, into turmoil.

The human cost of this disaster cannot be overestimated.

Yet there is a wider cost to the community as a whole. For each one of those workers is also a consumer, supporting shops, pubs, restaurants and other businesses.

The cumulative effect of throwing 850 people onto the dole has a catastrophic impact on the local economy.

And, when added to the growing ranks of unemployed across the country, the whole UK economy.

This will almost certainly fuel the steady closure of shops and businesses, which threatens to turn our once-thriving shopping centres into ghost towns.

Yes, the losses were a disaster for those involved, but they are also part of a ticking timebomb which will affect us all.

N SPEIGHT, Woodstcok Road, Oxford