MORE than 200 jobs at a car components factory are to be axed as a direct result of the 900 redundancies announced recently at Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port plant.

TDS Automotive Logistics, based near the car factory on North Road, is looking for 214 voluntary redundancies among its full-time and hourly-paid workers who make bump-ers and accessories for the Astra.

The news comes as a major blow for both the families of those affected and the area generally.

It comes just a fortnight after Vauxhall's parent company General Motors axed 900 jobs from the third shift at the Port plant as part of an efficiency drive.

TDS plant manager Colin Harwood said: 'We met with the TGWU and Amicus trade unions last Thursday to inform them of the predicted impact on TDS of Vauxhall Motors' recent announcement.

'We advised that up to 198 hourly-paid and 16 salaried staff positions are at risk.

'We regret having to make this announcement and will seek to achieve the required reduction through voluntary redundancy.'

Annette Innes, whose three sons all work for TDS, said: 'This is a terrible blow for both people like us, and the town as a whole. Morale at TDS is so low now, it's awful.'

She and her daughter, who both work in a quality checking firm based in the North Road complex, fear they could also feel the after-effects of the Vaux-hall jobs cuts.

Mrs Innes, of Sycamore Drive in Ellesmere Port, said: 'We are worried what will happen to us because we, like Vauxhall, work a three-shift system.

'So now Vauxhall has axed its third shift and the people on it, what happens to us? If Vauxhall's third shift goes, do we, too?

'Some of the 900 Vauxhall workers who'll lose their jobs say they are ready to go, but we are all going to feel the results of this.'

Another TDS worker, who didn't want to be named, said: 'We seem to be suffering as a knock-on effect from Vauxhall's situation.'

Union reveals its job fears > > >

Union reveals its job fears

HUNDREDS of Vauxhall workers could still be on the dole one year after redundancy if they receive the 'same feeble' help offered to sacked Rover staff.

That was the view of union leaders when they discussed the 900 job cuts at the Vauxhall car plant in Ellesmere Port with MPs.

In evidence to a Commons committee, union Amicus condemned the package of retraining given to the 6,000 Rover workers who lost their jobs last year as 'largely ineffective'.

As a result, one third were still out of work a year later - and many with new jobs were on short-term contracts and much lower pay.

Speaking to the all-party trade and industry committee, Amicus general secretary Derek Simpson accused the Government of pumping out 'propaganda' about vacancies.

Ministers claimed there were 4,000 skilled vacancies nearby for the 900 Vauxhall workers.

Mr Simpson insisted the 'truth' was likely to be very different:

'I fear, in a year's time, half of those people (in Ellesmere Port) will not have got jobs, and those that have will not be in jobs that were supposedly available.'

Amicus put together a dossier on the Rover redundancies for the select committee, which is carrying out an inquiry into the wave of job losses that have hit the car industry.

About £170m was promised to help the Rover workers but, Amicus claims, half of skilled workers were still jobless and 80% of those in work were in temporary posts.

The retraining was short term - lasting 12 months - and uncoordinated.

The package worked better in the supply chain - 11 of the 150 companies threatened with bankruptcy went to the wall.