Hundreds of people due to start work at BMW's Mini plant have been told their services are not required yet.

About 200 expected to begin new well-paid, full-time jobs at Cowley as soon as Monday and received letters confirming their position from employment agency Manpower, which has been staging recruitment fairs to staff the assembly line.

But Manpower staff have since contacted them to say BMW no longer needed them and that recruitment for the assembly line had stopped.

The situation has sparked a row between the companies, with Manpower claiming BMW managers changed their minds at the last minute over the number of workers needed.

BMW denied the claim and said the majority of the workers will eventually be taken on.

One would-be worker, who asked not to be named, told the Oxford Mail he had given up two temporary jobs to join BMW on a temporary contract - with the hope of eventually landing permanent work.

He said: "Now I'm going to have to go cap-in-hand to try to get my old jobs back. I'm totally gutted."

A Manpower spokesman confirmed the 200 workers had been contacted by telephone and described the situation as "extremely unfortunate".

He said: "There has been a lot of interest in people working for BMW and we wrote to these people confirming their positions. Then, overnight, BMW's requirement changed.

"We are going to maintain contact with them and if the requirement changes again, we want to be offering them work.

"We are very sorry this has happened, but it is an unfortunate element of this type of work."

More than 2,000 workers have been recruited on temporary contracts at the Cowley plant. BMW spokesman Angela Wigley said the company's staffing needs had not changed and the issue was a matter of timing.

She said: "Manpower is aware of our requirements - it has been working with us since April.

"While some of the contracts have been withdrawn by Manpower, we believe the majority of the people will be taken on in due course as we make the final adjustments to our requirements.

"We are looking at balancing staffing with the market demand for the car, but it would be wrong to suggest there is an issue with either the car or the factory."

Bernard Moss, convenor-elect for the trade unions at the Oxford plant, said: "It is terrible. People with mortgages and families have given up jobs on the basis of getting this agency work and I can understand them getting up-tight."