TROUBLED automotive factory Trelleborg is set to close with the loss of up to 150 jobs as the operation is transferred to eastern Europe.

The Trowbridge-based firm today told workers of the proposal to close next year.

Operations director Chris Davis said: "We have made an announcement to employees that we are ceasing manufacturing next year."

Mr Davis said the firm will hold a 90-day consultation period with staff but that he could not see the factory being saved.

"From a management perspective we find it difficult to see a viable alternative."

He said staff would be given help to find alternative employment.

The factory, on the White Horse Business Park, is expected to close in mid-2007 with production work being transferred to Romania.

Trelleborg, which makes car parts, has been at the centre of a number of accidents in recent years including one in which national bodybuilding champion Anthony Smith, 54, died after being trapped in a machine in 2004.

Figures supplied by the Health and Safety Executive last year showed the firm had an accident rate of three times the national average for the manufacturing sector, with 44 accidents reported between 2001 and 2005.