A woman car plant worker who claimed she was forced from her job because she was in the way of male colleagues watching hard-core sex movies has won an employment tribunal hearing against Nissan, it was confirmed today.

Paint shop worker Beverley Ward, 24, also claimed that despite her anguish at work she was told to sit with Prime Minister Tony Blair when he visited the company's Wearside plant in January 2001, as an example of the company's equal opportunities policy.

Nissan Motors UK today confirmed that Miss Ward had won her case for unfair dismissal and that company lawyers were now studying the employment tribunal's ruling, which they received on Tuesday.

Miss Ward, of Ferryhill, County Durham, also told a tribunal that because of the hardcore films she was forced to eat her lunch in a toilet.

She said she was not offered a new contract because she was in the way of male colleagues who wanted to watch explicit sex films at the plant, in Washington, on the outskirts of Sunderland.

Nissan Motors UK today said that Miss Ward, a short-term contract worker, was one of two women in a paint shop workforce of 300.

Despite the tribunal's finding the company rejected allegations that hundreds of men regularly watched blue movies on site.

The company admitted it had been alerted to a small number of men, around 25, allegedly watching ''unsuitable'' material and had clamped down on their antics.

Following Miss Ward's claims the company today said that managing director John Cushnaghan was ''apoplectic'' and personally told every manager and supervisor on site that such behaviour would never be tolerated by the company.

Wayne Bruce, company head of PR, said: ''It's a Nissan priority to ensure the working environment is suitable for all.

''The company operates an equal opportunities policy and every Nissan employee, from Washington to Tokyo, is required to follow a global code of conduct.

''One of the clauses contained is that we are to respect everyone working with us.

''We also want to stress that she was one of 129 temporary contract workers whose contract was due to expire in July 2001.

''There were other contract workers whose contracts expired at the same time who also did not have their contracts renewed.''

Of the 129 contract workers whose contracts expired in July, 74 returned in October 2001, including one woman worker.

The company currently employs around 4,900 staff with 200 women at the Sunderland complex. Twenty-four work on the shop floor and the remainder in office roles.

Miss Ward had claimed unfair dismissal on the grounds of sex discrimination during an earlier employment tribunal hearing in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, saying that because she raised concerns about the pornographic videos she was told a woman was not wanted on the shop floor.

She was not available for comment today and solicitors acting for her said they had no plans to issue any statement on her behalf. Miss Ward today told the Daily Mail: ''I was one woman against an enormous company.

''But I had to go through with it and tell the truth because what happened in that factory was wrong.

''If I hadn't done something other women will suffer the same humiliations. It has to change.''