Inside the eerie abandoned Longbridge Rover car factory empty since mass lay-offs 11 years ago
Birmingham plant was once a powerhouse employing 25,000 workers, but when firm collapsed in 2005 it fell silent
A HUGE car factory lies frozen time eleven years after it was shut suddenly.
The Longbridge plant in Birmingham, West Midlands, was once a powerhouse employing 25,000 workers.
But when car maker Rover MG Rover collapsed in 2005 it fell silent.
The skeletons of cars still sit on assembly lines that have ground to a halt.
While personal items lie gathering dust in abandoned offices.
Photographer Dab Hand said it was a “privilege” to see inside the factory which opened in 1905.
The urban explorer said: "It was completely untouched.
"To think thousands of people used to work there, and it's like it's been frozen in time.
";There were still body shells of cars on the tracks, newspapers and personal things people had left in offices.
"I thought everything had been scrapped or sold off, but it had just been left.
"It was quite sad but also a privilege to see, as Rover was a massive employer in its day."
The images are a sharp contrast to the bustling pictures from the 1980s.
In its heyday, the plant employed 25,000 workers.
There are now around 300 workers left in Longbridge, and just recently, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation - who bought out MG Rover - confirmed it was now stopping assembly and moving everything to China.
With the stopping of assembly, 25 factory staff will lose their jobs.
They will be the last employees to have been employed to construct vehicles at the plant.
The photographer added: "It was so quiet in there.
"When a pigeon flew from the roof it echoed all around the building.
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