Bosses at hi-tech firm Siemens Magnet Technology are looking for volunteers to take redundancy after revealing 45 jobs will be axed.

A slowdown in the Eynsham-based company's key healthcare market is being blamed for the move which was announced to workers today.

Karen Gaynor, head of human resources at the plant, said: "It is regrettable that due to circumstances beyond our control, we have had to consider something like this. We are doing everything we can to avoid compulsory redundancies."

The firm is seeking 33 volunteers from technicians on the shop floor, with a further 12 coming from research and development and administration.

The company manufactures the magnets used in magnetic resonancing imaging scanners in hospitals around the world.

With 600 workers, Siemens Magnet Technology is the second largest manufacturing employer in the county after BMW's Cowley Mini plant and the biggest employer in West Oxfordshire.