Dreaming spires? Dream on

Peter Moreton, 46, Mark Williams, 39, and George Kilty, 56, all from Liverpool, are part of a small army of contract workers currently fitting out BMW's Mini plant at Cowley ready for full-scale production, due to start in late spring.

They work for one of several automation companies, called in by BMW to transform the former Rover site with state-of-the-art machinery and fittings.

Miles of new electrical cables and conveyors are being laid and production is on target for the eagerly-anticipated launch of the Mini in early summer.

Peter, an electrician's mate, and Mark, an electrician, have worked at Cowley for more than three months. George arrived last week.

They work ten-hour shifts, seven days a week and go home to Liverpool no more than once a month.

These men are highly-skilled workers trained in the automation industry and are able to command a salary of around 500 per week wherever they are.

But there are simply not enough car plants in the north to keep them in permanent work.

In an ideal world, they would live at home and work at Ford's Halewood plant but instead they are forced to work hundreds of miles away from their homes and families, surviving on a diet of soup, sandwiches and take-aways.

George, also an electrician, worked for a few months at the Cowley plant three years ago.

He says his heart sank when he heard his next job was back in Oxford again. He arrived last month after his work at Ford's plant at Southampton came to an end.

George doesn't even try to hide the fact he would rather be anywhere else than Oxford.

Contractors are usually given a daily expenses allowance of 35, which should pay for bed and breakfast accommodation, lunch and an evening meal.

In cities such as Southampton that is usually enough, but in Oxford the contractors find they have to supplement their allowance with their wages.

George, who is staying in bed and breakfast accommodation in Whitehouse Road, south Oxford, says: "I don't mind saying that I don't like Oxford at all.

"It's impossible to park here, there's always a traffic jam stretching right through the city centre and the people are unfriendly.

"There's also loads more beggars here than at home. The way they stop you all the time in the street is so annoying."

George adds that while in many other cities guesthouse owners are happy to strike a deal with contractors planning to stay on a long-term basis, it couldn't be more different in Oxford.

"The prices are high because Oxford is such a touristy place. They can charge ridiculous amounts for rooms because tourists will pay up without questioning.

"They know they'll fill the room, pretty much throughout the year, so they're not particularly bothered about our trade.

"We always have to share a room because a single room can easily cost 50 a night here," he says.

Living in a hotel room can be soul-destroying and it is not surprising many people who work away from home spend their evenings in the pub in order to avoid having to sit and stare at the same bare four walls night after night.

The contractors often drink in the pubs along Abingdon Road, including the Duke of Monmouth and the Fox and Hounds, because they find the beer sold in many of Oxford's trendy bars is almost twice the price of a pint at their local in Liverpool.

Mark Williams, who is renting a room in a shared house in Abingdon Road, says he and several other contractors have joined the gym at Oxford Spires Four Pillars Hotel nearby to keep themselves out of the pub.

"We joined as a group and were offered a reduction so it made it worth our while. Being a member of a gym means we've got somewhere to go in the evenings without always going to the pub.

"Although we get an expenses allowance of 35 a night, it's hard to survive on just that in Oxford, Things are much cheaper at home.

"I don't know how people afford to live here," he says.

Mark has to be especially careful about what he spends because a large slice of his salary goes towards his daughter Lynne's fees and living expenses while she studies at Preston University where she is taking a course in business studies.

He wants her to be in a position to choose where she works and what she does in the future.

He also wants his 16-year-old son, also called Mark, to learn a trade so he can have a stable future but he doesn't want him to follow in his own's footsteps.

"I want him to have a good future ahead of him but I don't want him to go into the rat race I'm in. I'm used to the way of life - I've been working away from home on and off for about 23 years.

"I've had enough of it now, though, and my wife, Joy, has just got a job, so I might be able to give up contracting at some stage in the future. If we have a combined salary we might be able to afford for me to live at home again," he says.

Contractors are always ready with a laugh and a joke but almost all have an underlying emptiness which never quite goes away.

Peter explains: "Of course we get lonely and miss the wife and our families. It's a hard life but that's just the way it is. We're contractors and it's not going to change.

"If we could get a decent wage at home then of course we would stay there but we have to go where the work is, and that's more often than not down south in our industry.

"When you're away football becomes even more important than when you're at home.

"We always watch when Liverpool plays - and we celebrate extra hard when we win."