Up to 50 jobs could be at risk at a factory near Wantage that supplied parts to MG Rover following the collapse of the car maker.

Wagon plc, which supplies parts such as bumpers, sun roofs and door structures to a range of manufacturers, and has a factory in East Challow, as well as two sites in the Midlands, is in talks with its staff over how the firm can be restructured. About 100 jobs are potentially at risk at the three sites, which employ about 1,000 people. It is understood that up to half the jobs under threat could be at East Challow, where 140 people work.

Wagon suspended supplies to MG Rover on April 7, because the firm was owed £900,000 for parts sent to the Longbridge factory, in Birmingham.

A Wagon spokesman said although its work with MG Rover represented less than three per cent of sales, the collapse of the car maker would mean there needed to be some restructuring at all three of its sites -- all of which did work for Rover.

He said: "We're now in consultation with the workforce and their representatives so they can go away and come back with ideas of how we can mitigate what's going on."

One employee said the workforce had not been given any figures for the numbers of jobs at risk, and that talks about the situation were continuing.

He said staff were keen for a decision to be made so they knew what was happening.

Mat Danks, of the regional development agency Advantage West Midlands, which is heading the MG Rover Task Force, set up to deal with the fall-out from the collapse of the company, said help was available for companies in the MG Rover supply chain to safeguard jobs or pay wages in the short term.