BEARINGS firm Torrington has confirmed that it is axing staff at its Darlington factory.

The company is preparing to make 66 redundancies and is negotiating with unions at the plant.

Andy Dillon, manager of the Yarm Road plant, said: "I can confirm that we have had meetings with our workforce and have announced that we need to reduce our staff numbers by up to 66 people, which will be effective at the end of September.

"Consultations with the representative trade unions will be taking place between now and that time, with the view to reducing the numbers affected and minimise any major hardships that may arise from this regrettable action."

He added: "Hopefully the job losses can be found without the need to resort to compulsory redundancies."

This is the third set of job losses at the site in the past three years. More than 200 have gone since 1998, leaving just under 170 staff at the plant.

The latest redundancies will leave the workforce at just over 100.

Torrington, part of the industrial Ingersoll Rand Group, is blaming increasing competition from the Eastern bloc for the job losses.

A statement from Ingersoll Rand read: "As the worldwide economy has generally softened we have seen a marked downturn in our heavy bearing business in Europe.

"Currently there is overcapacity in Europe for this product, which is creating major problems for all manufacturers, and driving market prices down to maintain full order books. Furthermore, companies importing cheaper products from Eastern Europe and Asian areas are undercutting prices."

Ingersoll Rand said sales for the fourth quarter of this year had reduced to such a level that it needed to take drastic action in order for the business to survive.

It does not expect an improvement in the situation in the near future, with a further decline in the business next year.

Davey Hall, regional secretary for the AEEU union, which represents workers at the plant, said: "These job losses are another bitter blow to the highly-motivated and highly-skilled workforce at Torrington.

"Negotiations are ongoing between the AEEU and management at the site, and we hope that we can avoid compulsory redundancies."