A NORTH-EAST call centre is at the centre of a baby boom, with dozens of employees expecting additions to the family.

Thirty-eight workers at the Orange Business Solutions centre, in Darlington, are pregnant.

And while they spend much of their time considering talk plans for new customers, it is baby talk which will be top of their agendas in the coming months.

The baby boom has taken the centre by storm in recent months, with families about to be over-run by the patter of tiny feet.

The staggering statistics have led to work becoming a real bonding experience for employees, who are all at different stages in their pregnancies.

Centre worker Emma Fielding, who is expecting her first child in November, said: "More and more people are announcing they are pregnant.

"We cannot believe it - it just seems to be catching.

"We must have women at all stages of pregnancy now, and it is the talk of the centre who will be next."

Orange employs more than 300 people in its business customer services department.

It has been operating from Darlington since 1994, and has three other centres in the North-East.

But the amazing number of expectant mothers is something which workers and bosses have never experienced in all their time in the region.

Director Warren Buckley said approximately ten per cent of the Darlington workforce was now expecting new arrivals.

He said: "Our staff are highly skilled and experienced in dealing with specialist business customers.

"It certainly is happy news for those concerned, and we will try wherever we can to accommodate the needs of all our working parents."

The majority of the pregnant workers said they were planning to return to work after giving birth.

Eight of them proudly posed in the reception area of the Darlington centre yesterday.