Employees of Dennis, the vehicle chassis-maker owned by Mayflower, stand to bear the brunt of a deficit in the company's pension scheme.

The Sunday Telegraph claims that as of April 2003 the two Dennis group pension schemes had a combined shortfall of more than £11m, almost two thirds of the group's total deficit of £17.7m.

The news will come as a further blow to the 332 Dennis workers at Mayflower's plant in Guildford, Surrey, who last week saw 48 of their colleagues made redundant.

Earlier this month Mayflower collapsed into administration. The Transport & General Worker' Union has called a meeting for April 20 to discuss the crisis after last week's announcement by the administrator, Deloitte & Touche, that almost 350 employees would be made redundant.