ORDERS for BMWs worth £1.2 million at showroom prices have been cancelled by a West Midlands-based firm in a show of support for beleaguered Rover. South Staffordshire Water Group has also decided to sell all BMWs on its fleet and where possible replace them with Rovers.

In all, 22 vehicle orders have been stopped and a further 30 on the 600-vehicle fleet will be removed, following BMWs announcement of plans to sell Rover. Where possible, drivers will be moving over to Rover 75s, 45s and 25s. Powermarque, the Huntingdon-based contract hire and fleet management firm, which signed a deal with the water firm at the Fleet Show, has been charged with carrying out the changes by SSG chief executive Brian Whitty.

A spokesman for South Staffordshire Water Group said: 'As a West Midlands-based company, we felt obliged to show support for a fellow member of the business community, particularly one whose employees are customers of SSG. We find BMW's handling of the entire Rover affair extremely distasteful.'

But the Retail Motor Industry Federation has already blasted any boycott of BMW vehicles, labelling it a 'ludicrous knee-jerk reaction' and a spokesman for BMW said: 'This does not achieve very much. All it does is damage British businesses by taking money out of dealerships and putting jobs at risk.'