Finding a job in Oxford is ‘clutching at straws’ with the influx of redundant BMW workers, a worried Richard Sale said as he trawled for jobs at today’s Oxford Mail Job Fair.

A record number of people, estimated at about 2,000, crowded into Oxford Town Hall looking for work, more than double the number who usually turn out for the twice-yearly event.

Mr Sale, 23, from Jericho, was made redundant from his job at a landscaping firm on Friday.

He said: “It’s an upward struggle now, especially with BMW making 850 redundancies, it makes that challenge that bit harder. I have found this past week very hard work.”

Earlier this month it was revealed the county’s unemployment total had hit 6,906, the highest number since May 1997. It rose by more than 1,000 in a month after earlier redundancies at the Cowley car plant and Woolworths.

Carpenter Lee Gill, 22, from Cutteslowe, was laid off in November and said he was struggling to find work to help support his partner and two-year-old son.

Mr Gill said: “It’s an absolute nightmare. I have had to sign on the dole, which isn’t nice.

“The BMW redundancies just make it 850 times harder finding work. It’s more stressful. You would think having a skilled trade it might not be so hard, but there’s no work anywhere.”

People travelled from as far as Swindon and London in the hope of finding a job in Oxfordshire.

Michael Lathbury, 27, was hoping to move to the city after losing his advertising executive position in London and admitted the news of so many new job cuts at BMW was daunting.

He said: “It makes me incredibly nervous, especially coming from a bustling metropolis like London, but it’s the same story everywhere.”

There were 26 exhibitors at the fair, which ran between 10am and 5pm, and all had positions on offer, including Oxfordshire County Council, the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy.

Newsquest recruitment manager Belinda Rand said more than 500 people came through the door in the first hour and a half alone.

She said: “It’s unbelievable, it has never been this busy before.

“We anticipated it would be busy but to what extent we weren’t sure, so we’re really pleased.”

Ruth Percival, who was running the Motorsport Academy stall, said: “It has been very busy. There are a lot of people with skills that are transferable into the motorsport industry that possibly haven’t thought about it before.”

fbardsley@oxfordmail.co.uk