Car parts supplier axes jobs

The impact of the slowdown in car sales is deepening, with engineering group GKN revealing that it has cut 2800 jobs around the world since October.

The firm, which supplies car makers including Jaguar Land Rover and Ford, said it had cut 242 UK jobs so far around 3% of its British workforce and that it had also reduced working hours.

GKN also announced that its automotive business made a loss in both November and December, and that conditions in the global car industry had continued to decline since then.

As a result, a spokesman confirmed that it expected to axe more jobs imminently.