Car workers' joy at pounds 10m investment.

Byline: ANDREW HUTSON, Business Reporter

CAR giant Ford today announced a massive pounds 10 million investment in its Leamington foundry.

It will fund the installation of a new moulding line and renewal of foundry equipment including melting, moulding and fettling machinery.

The site has also secured work producing brake castings for a new generation of Ford vehicles.

The Leamington foundry, on the corner of Princes Drive and Old Warwick Road, produces solid and ventilated brake discs, brake drums and flywheels for the Ford car range in Europe.

It employs 450 people and has been in operation since 1940. Bosses at the site said they were pleased with the announcement and what it meant for the future.

Dave Parker, plant manager at the Leamington foundry, said: "We are delighted with the investment and the opportunity it gives us to secure a positive future for the plant.

"With the commitment of the workforce to continuous improvements in quality and efficiency, the new facilities will provide us with a solid platform on which to build for the future."

The news comes just over two months after bosses at the foundry confirmed that about 75 jobs were likely to be lost at the plant.

Managers have been in negotiations to make the plant more efficient to secure contracts.

It is not yet known if the cash boost announced today will affect that.

Ford has ordered the removal of a Union Jack painted on the locker of an employee at the Leamington foundry. Workers have hit out at the ruling, which came after safety checks.

The company said it had a no-graffiti policy.

Office staff at the foundry have been given two weeks to clear pornographic material from their computers in a worldwide amnesty by the company.