WORKERS at the Wrangler jeans plant in Falkirk wept as they were sent home yesterday after being told the factory would shut in a fortnight.

The announcement that 500 workers will be sacked completed a bleak week on the Scottish jobs front.

Only 24 hours earlier, Swedish motor giants Volvo confirmed they were pulling out of Irvine, Ayrshire, with the loss of another 500 jobs.

The whole Wrangler workforce turned up for an 8am meeting with management that lasted just 10 minutes yesterday.

They were given statements in which management voiced ''great regret and sadness'' at being forced to shut down the plant on February 12.

Company bosses told staff: ''This decision is not a reflection of the standards or efficiency of this plant. The Falkirk plant, which is made up of a team of loyal, dedicated and committed managers and employees, has risen to every challenge asked of them.''

The firm pledged a ''very fair'' redundancy package, plus support and assistance in their workers' quest for new jobs.

Mr John Connolly, leader of Falkirk Council, said: ''I was pessimistic about the plant remaining open. But I'm still stunned by the news.''

He pledged that his council would do everything to help ''ease the pain'' of the closure and assist the workforce find new jobs.

The Wrangler shutdown will mark the end of a 30-year-era of rag trade production at Camelon.

Wrangler jeans were first made on the site by Blue Bell Apparel Ltd in 1969. The American-based company also ran a factory in nearby Larbert until 986 when its 330 workers were switched to Camelon. In 1989, Blue Bell Apparel was taken over by Vanity Fair International, who in its heyday employed 900 workers at its Camelon base.

The first sign that the factory was in trouble came in December 1997 when 250 jobs were axed as bosses blamed a strong pound and cheap foreign competition for an alarming slump in business.

Last year, the owners of the Camelon plant, by then the only factory in the UK making Wrangler products, changed name to VF Northern Europe.

Hints that the plant was struggling came just before Christmas when production was stopped for three weeks instead of the usual two over the seasonal break.

Then, 11 days ago, a terse statement from management confirmed the 500 strong workforce's worst fears. It read: ''VF management has commenced consultation with its workforce in Falkirk on the intended closure of the plant.''

Shell-shocked staff were told the axe would fall unless a buyer for the factory was found within 10 days.

The workers shrugged that off as a lost cause and a pall of inevitable closure settled over the plant.

Dejected workers, many single mums struggling to make ends meet,were given the closure news yesterday. Although expected, it still hurt.

There were tears as they trudged from the factory, fearful of the future.

One woman said: ''This is awful. There are a lot of families ripped apart by this.''

Another woman worker said: ''It's a black, black, day for this town.

''We had good jobs here - real jobs with real pay.

''What chance do we have of getting any job now?''