Nissan denies rumour of cancelled shifts

Nissan has denied rumours that staff have been sent home due to a shortage of parts.

A source at the company has said that the plant is running as usual and dismissed the comments on social media that shifts had been cancelled at the weekend.

The Times newspaper reported that ‘parts chaos’ had affected a number of car factories across the UK at the weekend and claimed parts shortages have led the plant to scrap plans to introduce extra shifts at the weekend.

However the Echo understands the plant is not currently operating its two production lines at the weekend and there are no plans to do so.

There has been speculation that Brexit could cause problems for UK car plants which are heavily dependent on supply chains from the EU.

Nissan’s car manufacturer Honda did temporarily close its Swindon plant earlier this month, citing ongoing “global supply issues delays”.

The car company said in a statement: “Honda of the UK Manufacturing (Honda) has confirmed to employees that some production activities will not run Tuesday 5th and Wednesday 6th of January due to global supply issues delays.”

Nissan had previously warned that a no-deal Brexit would have severe implications for the future of the Sunderland plant.

Reacting to the news of the deal being struck last month, a spokesman said: “Nissan welcomes the agreement reached between the UK and EU authorities.”