REDUNDANT workers left the Malmesbury factory of millionaire inventor James Dyson clutching a parting gift a £300 vacuum cleaner.

More than 800 workers were laid off from the plant after production was switched to Malaysia, where workers are able to produce the revolutionary cleaner for a fraction of the cost.

Instead of the £10.50 an hour he was paying workers in England, their Malaysian counterparts will be earning just £1.50 an hour.

However, Mr Dyson was able to guarantee the future of 1,000 of his workers who produce the Dyson Contrarotator washing machine.

The move to Malaysia was announced in February, in the same week that people in the town heard that another local employer, Lucent Technologies, was to shed 600 jobs.

At the time, Mr Dyson said: "It is a disappointment because I hoped to make vacuum cleaner manufacture work in Britain and in Malmesbury, and we have used a huge amount of money and time doing that a huge investment in research and development driving new technology and product manufacture."

The Dyson vacuum cleaner soared in popularity to become a best seller shortly after being launched in 1995.