Sunderland Nissan plant to end night shifts

About 7,000 workers are employed at the plant which opened in 1986

Night shifts at the Sunderland Nissan plant are to end, a union has said.

Unite the union said it believed no jobs would be lost, as people would move onto day shifts, although workers would lose a shift allowance.

The current rate of output - about 440,000 cars a year - will be maintained by the two daytime shifts.

About 3,000 of the plant's 7,000 workers are employed on the night shift at the plant, which makes the Qashqai, Juke and electric Leaf models.

Steve Turner, assistant general secretary at Unite said: "[The union] has been aware of this announcement for some time and our officers and reps at the plant have been working hard to ensure that the full workforce is protected.

"As a result, no jobs will be lost with current demand being consolidated into the remaining day shifts."

Reports last week claiming that Nissan was looking at taking Qashqai production away from Sunderland in the event of a no-deal Brexit were denied by the company which said it had no plans to move it.

A statement from Nissan said: "To support the production of new Juke, extra manufacturing staff will be needed on the plant's production Line Two.

"In a restructuring of the production schedule, these staff will transfer from production Line One, with both lines operating on a two shift pattern. Overall headcount at the plant will remain the same."