WORKERS at North Yorkshire farms said today they feared for their futures after the closure of a turkey factory in the county, with the loss of more than 300 jobs.

Workers at the Brandons turkey processing plant at Dalton, near Thirsk, received the shock news yesterday that it was closing immediately.

The firm called in receivers PricewaterhouseCoopers three weeks ago, but they yesterday announced they could not sustain the business and had no money for wages or redundancy pay.

Now workers at Brandons farms in North Yorkshire fear for their jobs.

"We are completely in the dark about it all, I only know what I heard on the news last night," said a worker at the Brandons Turkey farm at Tholthorpe, near Easingwold.

"We don't get told anything, I don't know how long I am going to have my job for."

An employee at Barmby Moor Farm, near Pocklington, also owned by Brandons, said: "We don't know what's going to happen."

Vale of York MP Anne McIntosh, whose constituency the factory is in, said: "This is terrible news for the 300 employees at the factory. There are also 60 turkey farms and up to 50 suppliers of other services to the factory who will be adversely affected by the closure of the factory."

She also regretted the impact the closure would have on the local economy.

"This loss of employment and blow to the local economy is particularly unfortunate in an area already hit by the crisis in farming."

Union officials described the atmosphere at the plant yesterday as gloomy.

Peter Allenson, the Transport and General Workers' Union national secretary for agriculture, said: "We have made our concerns very clear to ministers that the UK poultry industry is under pressure from cheap foreign competition."

Updated: 11:30 Wednesday, April 30, 2003