HUNDREDS of Bentley workers have demonstrated outside the firm's headquarters in protest at a proposed 4.5 per cent pay rise.

Shopfloor workers staged their 30-minute silent protest after objecting to the firm's pay offer.

They are angry that the one-year deal is linked to an increase in hours and a new rule that allows managers to give workers two hours' notice to work over if production targets are likely to be missed by the end of the regular shift.

They also claim the January rise in VAT and increased National Insurance contributions will wipe out the 4.5 per cent hike.

Some of the 3,500 workers at Crewe's Pyms Lane plant are pledging to repeat their unofficial Monday lunchtime protest every week.

One Bentley worker told The Sentinel: "They are giving us next to nothing because everything else is going up. "Morale is down very badly.

"The idea to give us two hours' notice to work over has come from Toyota. But people have families and responsibilities that they cannot just drop at short notice."

Last year Bentley introduced a staggered production shutdown, which saw workers take a 10 per cent pay cut and agree to make up their full hours once production re-started; a system known as 'hour banking'.

It was aimed at protecting jobs and skills as demand slumped during the recession.

The unnamed employee added: "The mood is very, very low, because we banked the hours the other year, but the overtime to pay them back hasn't been there."

Pay negotiations are ongoing between the transport section of the Unite trade union and the company. Yesterday's dispute was unofficial, because it was not union organised.

Mike Hawes, Bentley's worldwide public relations director, said: "We are in the middle of our pay negotiations so cannot comment on the content of them.

"We hope to have them resolved relatively soon."

Latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders show Bentley sold 85 cars in October, up 51.8 per cent from 56 during the same month last year.

It has sold 891 cars since January, a 30.8 per cent increase from 681 during the same period last year.

Motor industry expert David Bailey, who is a Coventry University professor, said: "This offer is roughly in line with what other companies in the automotive industry are offering their workforces.

"Whether it is reasonable depends on the measures the company took during the recession.

"Bentley is doing quite well so does not want to get bogged down in industrial disputes."