A WORKER at Nissan's North-East car plant has died while working for the company in Japan.

Married father-of-three Stuart Faill is believed to have fallen under a train in Yokohama, near Tokyo.

Mr Faill, 39, who lived in Dunston, Gateshead, had worked at the Nissan plant at Sunderland for 14 years.

It is understood he had been sent to Japan in connection with the launch of a new car.

Mr Faill was with a maintenance team when he died. His death has stunned workers at the Sunderland factory.

It has left his wife, Bev, sons Christopher, Matthew and Adam, relatives and friends devastated.

Mrs Faill spoke briefly about the tragedy, which happened on January 28.

She said: "We never had time to say goodbye, but the memories will be there forever."

A Nissan spokeswoman said Mr Faill's death left everyone at the plant shocked.

She said: "We were all shocked and saddened to learn of the loss of Stuart Faill, who was on a business trip to Japan. Stuart had worked for Nissan since 1991 and was in Japan as part of a maintenance technician team from the Sunderland plant.

"Our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time."

Teams of experienced engineers are often sent from the plant to Japan and Spain to help with the launch of new models.

The spokeswoman said the incident was being investigated. She said: "We are aware that he has been hit by a train, but we do not know any of the circumstances.

"We cannot go into any details at the moment because we do not know what happened and it would not be fair to speculate."

Earlier this month, Nissan announced its newest flagship vehicle would be built in the North-East -safeguarding 5,000 jobs and creating 1,000 more in the region. It is not known whether Mr Faill's visit to Japan was in connection with the new model.

His body has been returned to Tyneside and his funeral will take place at Gateshead's Saltwell Crematorium tomorrow.

An inquest will take place in Gateshead.