A 49-year-old man died at a tyre factory this morning when he was crushed between a tractor and gritting machinery.

The worker, from the Chester-le-Street area of County Durham, was killed on the site of the Dunlop Tyres plant in Washington just after 9am on Wednesday.

Police and representatives from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) yesterday visited the plant, on the Wear Industrial Estate, but they are not treating the incident as suspicious.

Production at the factory, which employs nearly 700 people and manufactures more than 11,000 tyres a day, will cease until 7am tomorrow as a mark of respect.

A Dunlop spokesman said the company was currently co-operating with the Health and Safety Executive to determine the cause of the accident.

He added: "The fatality happened outside of the factory buildings and was therefore not related to the manufacturing process. However, the plant will cease production until 7am on Thursday morning as a mark of respect for the deceased as well as the families, friends and colleagues affected by this tragedy."

A spokesman for the HSE said they would be calling in a team of specialist mechanical engineers to examine the equipment the man was using, or the equipment involved in the accident.