A SECOND shutdown is planned at the giant Southampton Ford plant, the Daily Echo can reveal.

The two weeks of production downtime has been agreed between union leaders and company bosses.

The bombshell comes just months after the factory shed half of it 1,000-strong workforce blaming poor market conditions.

Ford spokesman Bryan Bennett refused to rule out the possibility of more job losses.

He said: “This is a sensible decision in line with the efficient running of the plant.

“The downtime is planned in response to market conditions which, in the commercial vehicle sector, are still depressed.

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