FORD is cutting 1,320 jobs and moving to single shifts at its Dagenham body and assembly plant from August as part of a major European restructuring. The job cuts are designed to solve the over-capacity in the car industry which continues to blight Ford and all other manufacturers.

Nick Scheele, chairman of Ford of Europe, said: 'This move is a significant step towards resolving our capacity imbalance, but we will continue to look at all aspects of our European operations. Dagenham has been running below capacity with significant downtime for many months. We can fulfil demand for Dagenham-sourced Fiesta and Courier with one shift and this system.'