MOTOR group Land Rover unveiled details of a voluntary redundancy programme after confirming plans to axe 1,300 jobs at its main UK plant. The Ford-owned company said it was confident of achieving the cutback at its plant in Solihull, West Midlands, through voluntary measures. The firm said it had previously announced moves to switch production of its Freelander model from Solihull to Halewood, Merseyside, affecting 1,000 jobs in the West Midlands. A new engine for the Defender will be made in Dagenham, Essex, resulting in the loss of another 300 jobs at Solihull. Land Rover officials met union leaders yesterday to spell out the redundancy terms available to workers who volunteered to leave. The cuts among the 8,000 Solihull workforce will start almost immediately.

MORE FOOD: Garden centres group Dobbies said it will add more food halls to its estate after customers showed a taste for farm and locally-made produce. The group, which has 18 sites in England and Scotland, announced the plan after selling £1.8m of goods during trial runs at Edinburgh, Ayr, Stirling and Ponteland in Northumberland. The addition of the food halls and trading space, coupled with a 13.4 per cent gain from its in-store restaurant business, enabled Dobbies to offset a modest like-for-like sales decline in its traditional garden centre business. Pre-tax profits for the year to the end of October were 4.4 per cent higher at £5m, even though like-for-like sales of plants fell by 3.5 per cent because of an early Easter and poor weather in April.

Reflex action: Vehicle rental group Reflex has announced the first step in its national expansion plans by recruiting a business development manager based in Bristol. The group, set up by former Northgate director John Collins, announced multi-million pound expansion plans last year which included doubling its Teesside workforce of 20. Reflex has appointed Tony Cooper to develop Reflex's business and work with national clients in the South. Mr Cooper also worked for Darlington-based Northgate for six years, and car rental group Hertz for eight years. Reflex is on target to increase its fleet of 2,000 vehicles to 5,000 over the next three years