Union leaders warned yesterday that deliveries of new Ford cars to showrooms will be hit because of a strike over pay and jobs.

Members of the Transport and General Workers' union at Ansa Logistics, which delivers Ford cars across the UK, started two weeks of industrial action which will hit sites in Southampton, Dagenham and Liverpool.

About 350 drivers, fitters and support staff will be involved in the action, which the union said was in protest at wage cuts and compulsory redundancies.

Union official Ron Webb said deliveries would be "seriously affected" within days. "Ansa and Ford have not been easy to deal with. The goalposts in our negotiations seem to shift all the time. First it was wage cuts and compulsory redundancies. Then improved productivity was added and then increased flexibility was demanded."

Ford said: "Ford Motor Company is evaluating what the full impact will be on vehicle deliveries to its dealerships. We hope there is a speedy end to the dispute, which comes in the run-up to the September number plate change, one of the two busiest new car sales months in the year."