Protestors have chained themselves to the gates of the Rolls Royce Marine Power factory in Derby as part of a demonstration against the use of Trident missiles.

The factory, on the Raynes Way site, produces the fuel for the nuclear-powered Trident submarines that carry the missiles.

On Tuesday, five activists from Trident Ploughshares, a group which campaigns to disarm the British Trident nuclear weapons system, padlocked themselves to the gates of the factory as staff arrived for work.

The protest lasted for two hours, but no arrests were made.

'Close to war'

The protesters were Paul and Rachel Milling from Birmingham, Marlene Yeo from Loughborough, Joan Meredith from Malpas, on the Cheshire-Shropshire border, and a Staffordshire man.

Mr Milling said with the prospect of war with Iraq on the horizon, it was the best time to draw attention to the issue.

"We have chosen this particular time rather than this particular day because we feel that we are so close to a war with Iraq that anything we can do which will slow down the use of nuclear weapons in that war, the better," he said.

A spokesperson for Rolls Royce said staff at the site had experienced problems trying to get into work, but there had been no major disruption to the factory.