Walkout after false rumours

The plant produces a fifth of all petrol used in Britain.

More than 600 contractors at one of the biggest oil refineries in Europe staged a walkout claiming it was unsafe to work at the sprawling Pembroke site.

It was the second walk-out caused by false rumours about safety. A similar incident occurred in June, when a bomb scare caused 900 workers to leave the site.

But oil giant Texaco and union leaders at the refinery joined forces on Tuesday to appeal to them to return to work.

Both sides claim that safety issues at the site have been fully dealt with and are calling for the men to return to work.

A total of 2,800 contractors currently work at the plant, which has been shut while a major refit costing more than £60m, is carried out.

Danny Fellows, regional manager with the T&G union, said part of the problem stemmed from unfounded rumours about safety at the site.

We have traced the reports to two radio sets but we have not yet been able to track down who used them Union official Danny Fellows

These had been circulated on the plant's own internal communications system, but it was not known who had started the false suggestions.

"We had one report that someone had broadcast an alert saying workers are `dropping like flies' because of a gas leak," he said.

"Another said that a contractor had broken his back in an accident. Neither report was true.

"We have traced the reports to two radio sets but we have not yet been able to track down who used them."

He added: "The plant itself is huge with almost 3,000 people working here and there are some who have never worked here before who are overawed.

"It can be a frightening and alien place. There are huge cranes and steam and loud bangs - it doesn't help when people spread rumours.

"Slightly more than 600 contractors walked off the site today, citing safety fears, but this is not a strike, it is not official."

He added that health and safety inspectors had visited the plant and confirmed there had been no major incident.

A spokesman for Texaco said: "Having met with the site union representatives, we are satisfied that we have been able to alleviate those concerns and the union full time officers are requesting a return to work.

We hope that the issue will be resolved shortly."