TELEVISION maker JVC today marked the end of 20 years of production in East Kilbride.

Today's closure comes after the Japanese conglomerate ended speculation that the site was to be axed by announcing in April that production would switch to Poland.

For the past two decades the College Milton facility has supplied TVs to the UK and Europe as JVC's only TV manufacturing site in Britain.

Staff spent their last few weeks building the world's thinnest LCD sets, with the thickest part of the set a mere 74mm wide - that's less than three inches.

After 20 years of dedicated service, union bosses asked if the 300 staff could take one of the top-of-the-range sets away with them.

But factory boss John Stokes said he had no option but to pull the plug on the proposed giveaway. He claimed: "It was impossible because of the value of the sets."

The workforce is understood to have shared up to £2million in redundancy payments with staff under 42 getting two weeks for every year worked and workers over 42 getting an extra week for each year worked. All employees received a loyalty payment of £500.

Unite union negotiator Derek Ormston said: "This really is a sad day for East Kilbride and the surrounding area. Workers have been left with a bitter taste.

"There was nothing wrong with the production side of the business. I warned several years ago that the marketing strategy was wrong."

He claims JVC TVs were too costly and they were only ever advertised at major events, such as the recent Euro football finals.

But Mr Stokes, who will also lose his job, said: "Many people in this company had tried really hard to make this business work. Everyone had been totally committed.

"We are the victims of market pressure and the financial squeeze. Most of the other companies who make televisions left the UK five years ago to manufacture in Eastern Europe. It's eventually caught up with us and bitten us hard."