Icons of British industry JCB and Mini in virus shutdown

DIGGERS giant JCB has halted production for the first time in its history because of the pandemic.

The British company blamed an ‘unprecedented’ fall in demand.

It means the firm’s nine manufacturing plants in Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Wrexham will remain closed for the rest of this week and all next week, with no decision so far on a longer shutdown.

The move was announced hours after car makers BMW, Toyota, Honda and Rolls-Royce suspended production, following Nissan and Vauxhall owner PSA earlier this week.

JCB stressed that falling demand was not unique to Britain, saying that customers worldwide were cancelling or delaying orders because of the coronavirus crisis.

It is paying shop floor employees in full during the factory shutdown and said office staff had been told to work from home where possible. Chief executive Graeme Macdonald said: ‘These measures are unprecedented in the history of JCB but are absolutely necessary to protect the business.’

BMW, with 8,000 staff in Britain is to shut factories across Europe for at least four weeks from Monday, including its Mini factory in Oxford and its plant in Swindon. A third site, in Hams Hall, Warwickshire, is under review. Industry figures said the British car industry was in trouble with only Jaguar Land Rover still operating.

Toyota, which employs 3,000, has shut down its factories at Burnaston in Derbyshire and Deeside, North Wales. Rolls-Royce said its Goodwood manufacturing site in West Sussex will close for a fortnight from Monday.

Mike Hawes, the chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said the UK’s car industry was now ‘on the precipice and will urgently need extraordinary measures to avoid falling over the edge’.