John Richard

Staff working the last day at a washing machine factory have left early after the death of a colleague during the final shift at the plant.

Some employees said the death was the "last straw" for the 302-strong workforce, which is now redundant.

Management at the plant allowed them to leave early after the man, 44, died.

He was said to have worked at the plant for 20 years and collapsed at around 0900 BST. He was taken to Glan Clwyd Hospital where he died.

Jason Dwan, manufacturing site director at Indesit said: "We can confirm that a 44-year-old employee fell ill at the factory this morning.

"First aiders were on scene immediately with our employee and a local ambulance arrived within 10 minutes of the call.

"We have to find ways of keeping these skills so they aren't lost from the area"

"Our HR manager was with the family straight away as he was accompanied to the local hospital, Glan Clwyd.

"At 0920 it was unfortunately confirmed that our employee had sadly passed away.

"His family have been informed.

"Immediately all work stopped at the factory, and our employees have now left the site as a mark of respect to his family."

Mr Dwan said it was a "tragedy" for the factory and extended his sympathies to the man's family on behalf of the company.

Indesit has been a major employer at Bodelwyddan since 1954, but production is moving abroad.

The company also makes the Hotpoint brand, and has blamed increased production costs and falling demand.

It said a number of options for the site were considered but all parties agreed they were not viable.

The loss of the jobs has been described as a "very sad day" for the area by those who campaigned to keep it open.

Vale of Clwyd AM Ann Jones said: "These are highly skilled manufacturing jobs and, somehow, we have to find ways of keeping these skills so they are not lost from the area."

The union expects production to be switched to Poland.

There has been a washing machine factory in the Bodelwyddan area since the early 1980s and it was taken over by Indesit in 2002.

It has made predominantly Hotpoint machines and as recently as 2004 employed 750 workers at the Kinmel Park site.

Indesit has two other bases in the UK, in Somerset and Peterborough, and claims to be the largest white goods company in the country.

Carlos Ramos, Indesit's UK Manufacturing Director said: "The work force at Kinmel Park has remained very loyal to the company and has a very positive attitude to work.

"This, combined with the wide range of skills and experience they have acquired means they have a lot to offer potential new employers."