“Many of the employees will have given many years of loyal service to the firm but are now facing an unknown future. Who knows what effect this will have on them, their partners and their children?

“Like so many people in Dundee, I worked for the company, but that was in happier times when there was a much larger workforce and none of the threats of losing your job because factories had been created in some other part of the world to do the work that you and your colleagues were doing, and doing well.

“It’s extremely unfortunate that the employees and their families have had to suffer weeks of speculation and uncertainty about their future, especially when this was over Christmas and New Year. Imagine how they were feeling not knowing what lay ahead for them?

“This is a time of year when most people are making plans for the year ahead. The NCR employees have been denied the chance to make those plans.”

Councillor Joe Morrow, convener of Dundee City Council's economic development committee, has called for immediate intervention by the Scottish Executive to soften what he called, “A devastating blow to the local economy”.

Expressing his sadness at the effect of the announcement, Councillor Morrow said, “As well as the jobs that will be lost as a result of NCR's decision, it is possible a similar number of posts could go as a result of the knock-on effect among suppliers and other businesses in the city.

“This potential loss of over 1000 jobs is a devastating blow to the local economy, and I have already written to the First Minister and Enterprise Minister in the strongest possible terms asking for their support.

“This news comes after a long period in which many people have put in a huge amount of effort to rebuild the economy of Dundee and I am looking for urgent intervention from the Scottish Executive to help us with specific and targeted resources to redeploy or retrain former NCR workers.

“We are also pushing for urgent talks with our partners, including Scottish Enterprise Tayside, to find out what support and opportunities are immediately available to the people who have lost their jobs.

“This news comes as a bitter blow for the employees and their families.

“I am deeply saddened by the loss of so many jobs at a firm whose operations have been synonymous with Dundee for generations.

“NCR has a strong and rich tradition in the city, and there cannot be many in Dundee who have not had some connection with it since it came here over 60 years ago.

“Dundee has been at the forefront of technological advances for NCR since the advent of computers, and it is a small consolation that the company's global research and development centre for automated teller machines will be staying in the city.”