For people like Stan Ruffett, the demise of Vauxhall in Luton is the end of a family friend.

The 85-year-old spent 27 years at the plant - and at various points his wife and three children and two of their partners have all worked at the Kimpton Road site.

Born and bred in Luton, Stan started work at Vauxhall in 1952 for £7 a week, which was a good wage at that time.

The late Mary Ruffett

His late wife, Mary, worked at Vauxhall in factory cleaning for 10 years, his daughter Christine, son-in-law Stuart Ashby, sons Alan and Geoff and daughter-in-law Susan have all also worked at Vauxhall over the years.

Geoff is retiring next month after 31 years working at Vauxhall and at sister company IBC.

Great grandfather Stan said Vauxhall had brought good things to Luton: "Working at Vauxhall was a happy time. It brought employment to the town and I used to enjoy the social life - the cricket and so forth was great."

Stan still meets with his colleagues at the Monday Club for Vauxhall pensioners at the town's St Mary's Church Hall.

"I have many memories of Vauxhall. I remember some years when we used to strike for a ha'penny extra an hour.

Stan Ruffett

"We were guaranteed a job and Vauxhall were a very good firm to work for. I made many good friends and the social life was good."

Stan said the end of Vauxhall in the town was a sad step in Luton's history: "The whole town used to feel prosperous with Vauxhall and other big firms such as Lux, but they have gone. There's not so many big industries and the airport is the only one now.

"I think seven out of 10 people used to work for Vauxhall at one time. Kimpton Road used to be full of people rushing out and catching buses."

Stan said that the announcement of Vauxhall's closure in December 2000 had come as a shock to his family and friends but with the redundancy packages, most had parted company with the firm on good terms.