A three-day shutdown at the BMW-owned Mini plant in Cowley was due to start today.

The closure of the plant follows an earlier shutdown over the Christmas and new year period.

The Cowley plant's 4,500 produc-tion staff were ordered to down tools for nearly a month over Christmas, as the made-to-order Mini suffered the effects of "challenging economic times", with people putting off buying new cars as a result of money worries.

On December 5, the Oxford Mail revealed UK sales of the Mini had fallen by 13 per cent for the year to date, while the total UK car market had slumped by 11 per cent in the same period.

On January 5 workers returned to the plant for the first time since December 8.