UNION officials will meet bosses at clothing firm Barbour today hopeful they can strike a deal to save its County Durham factory from closure.

Staff at the company's Crook plant, which makes waxed jackets, were told on Friday that production was to move to its headquarters in South Shields.

But most of the plant's 87 employees say they cannot afford to make a 45 mile-plus journey each day if their jobs moved to South Tyneside, on weekly wages of about £150.

Joe Keith, regional industrial organiser for the Transport and General Workers' Union, meets bosses at the factory today for crunch talks over the site's future.

He said: "We have had a good response from political figures in the area and I am meeting Wear Valley District Council leader Olive Brown and MP Hilary Armstrong this week to see if a rescue package to keep the factory in Crook can be created.

"We will try to get some answers from the company today and find some way of helping the workers."

Shop steward Emily Earl said very few workers felt relocating to the main factory was a real option.

She said: "We are told we can take posts in South Shields, but it is unrealistic to think we can afford £50 travel costs a week, especially on top of extra child-care many will have to pay for.

"It is also an awful thought that people will have to spend a couple of hours travelling each day, when they should be with their families."