Workers at the Mini carmaking plant near Oxford today pelted management with apples and oranges after 850 staff were fired.

Staff at the Cowley plant claimed they were given just one hour's notice by owner BMW that they were losing their jobs immediately. Some booed managers while others hurled fruit at them.

One said: "It's a disgrace. I feel as though I've been used. We should have been given one month's notice, not one hour."

Saturday and Sunday shifts are being scrapped, and the factory will close for a week after a fall in sales. The lay-offs will only affect agency workers, a fact that added to employees' anger as it was seen as a way of BMW reducing its redundancies bill.

BMW expressed regret for the cuts, which come into force from 2 March. It said: "While Mini has been weathering the economic downturn, it is not immune from the challenges of the current situation. Against this backdrop, the company felt that a review of its shift patterns was necessary. This decision has not been taken lightly."

BMW has also warned that 150 workers at its plant in Swindon are surplus to requirements. They will be offered a transfer to the Oxford factory.

Unions were also furious at the cuts. Tony Woodley, joint general secretary of the union Unite, described the move as "disgraceful", adding: "It is tough enough for workers in those car companies who have seen their market collapse, but BMW makes a top-selling product in the Mini and owed it to their staff to treat them better.

"Sacking an entire shift like this, and targeting agency workers who have no rights to redundancy pay, is blatant opportunism on BMW's part and nothing short of scandalous."

Woodley added that BMW's parent company could not attempt such lay-offs in Germany because they would be illegal. The Cowley plant is the only one in the world making Minis. Last year, it produced 235,000 cars.

However, sales slumped almost 35% in January compared with a year earlier.

BMW's cuts add to the jobs toll that has swept through the British car industry in recent weeks. Nissan, Ford, Jaguar Land Rover and Aston Martin have axed more than 3000 jobs in the past few months.

Although largely foreign-owned, the British car industry still employs more than 800,000 workers.