A HONDA worker has spoken about his hopes and worries for the future ahead of appearing in a short film made for the BBC.

Dave Roberts, 47, will appear on BBC One's Inside Out at 7.30 tonight in a short film he helped create and narrate about how the Honda closure will affect him and his family plus Swindon itself.

Dave, who has worked at the plant as a spray-painter for 24 years said his initial reaction to new was disbelief:

"We found out from a news feed after it had leaked, so obviously I thought it surely couldn't be true. It was pure disbelief to begin with but then it was announced the next day and I felt physically sick to be perfectly honest.

"I couldn’t really understand the decision after we’d been performing so well. It is like one big family and we’ve all contributed to making it the success of what it is now. Our global pass rate is number one out of all the factories in the world."

He said his first thought was about his loved ones: "My initial reaction went to thinking of my family and keeping a roof over our heads because I was hoping to stay there and then eventually retire after a good length of service.

We’ve got a lot of plans for the future, my daughter Lauren is going to university to study media make-up and my son Owen is in in his final year at Kingsdown and plans to go to college to study animal management.

"So obviously that costs of sending kids to college and some of Lauren’s university, so what does this mean for them now? I’m just worried for them, everyone at the plant is worried about these kinds of things."

But Dave said he is still very thankful to be working at Honda and has hopes for the future: "I’ve got no bitterness towards the company, I’ve got no reason to. They’ve help me get on the property ladder, paid for a wedding, the kids have had a good life, some good holidays. I’m just gutted it is going to end in a couple of years.

"Deep down I’m hoping that the plant might be saved, you can never say never. There’s no reason it couldn’t happen. I think we’ve just got to fight for the factory now until 2021.

"We’ve got 3500 highly skilled workers who’ve made a success of the factory for the 30 odd years it has been open. The attitude of everyone in the factory is to carry on as usual, continue getting the results we’ve been getting and prove them wrong."

In the film Dave speaks to representatives and business owners from across Swindon and said the experience of making it has left him feeling more optimistic about the situation: "After we done the filming, even though I know it is going to be tough I’m feeling quite positive. This town has been through a lot with the recession and before that with the rail works closing. I think we can get through it, I’m trying to stay positive for the future."

He adds: "My wife Lorraine and my kids have been my rock throughout this. She is very much like me, she likes to stay positive and not think about the worst, she’s very much a ‘when one door opens, another one opens’ kind of person.

"I just need to think we’ve still got the house, we’ve got the kids, we live a happy life and we intend to stay that way."