The paper’s owner, Telegraph Media Group (TMG), has tied up contingency plans with Rupert Murdoch-owned NI under which it could move printing overnight.

Under the plans, a copy of which has been seen by PrintWeek, around 400,000 copies of the paper would be printed collect at Wapping, and almost 300,000 would be produced collect at Knowsley, near Liverpool.

It is understood that this arrangement would also allow The Daily Telegraph to produce an extra four pages of colour, taking the colour total to 24pp.

These arrangements would be in addition to the 300,000 copies already produced under contract in Oxford.

Executives at TMG do not expect to have to put the plan in place. However, it would allow the Telegraph to continue printing should any industrial action take place at West Ferry as a result of its May decision to move its printing to News International’s new full-colour presses in Broxbourne, Knowsley and Glasgow once they are running next year.

Workers fear that the plant could be closed following TMG’s decision. However, there is as yet no clear decision on whether TMG’s joint venture partner at West Ferry, Richard Desmond’s Express Newspapers, will keep the plant open and give it a much-needed injection of cash to take it to full-colour.

According to reports, Desmond visited the site last Friday to speak to workers and reassure them of the future of the plant.

A board meeting at West Ferry is scheduled for Monday.

For more, see next Thursday’s PrintWeek.