THE North-East appeared to have escaped relatively unscathed last night following an announcement by the group formed from the merger of Orange and T-Mobile that it was to axe 1,200 jobs in the UK.

Everything Everywhere said it was cutting 7.5 per cent of its 16,000 strong workforce to end duplicated roles following the merger earlier this year.

However, it said frontline staff – those people answering calls and queries from customers – were unaffected, along with those in its retail stores.

The firm employs 2,746 staff in customer service roles in former Orange centres in Darlington, along with 2,313 staff on North Tyneside.

A total of 896 staff are employed in Doxford, near Sunderland, formerly operated by T-Mobile, whose main business is also dealing with customer inquiries.

Last night, a spokeswoman suggested some back office jobs in the centres, such as managerial and administrative functions could be affected.

But the majority of cuts are expected at the company’s main offices in London, Bristol and in Hatfield, Hertfordshire.

Everything Everywhere said affected staff had already been told before yesterday’s announcement, and jobs were likely to go by the end of the year.

A three-month consultation has now begun.

Dedicated marketing teams will be retained for both brands.

When the plans for a merger between the UK’s third (Orange) and fourth largest mobile phone brands were revealed last September, they sparked fears that the Doxford centre could be under threat, as well as a number of Orange and T-Mobile shops.

Darlington MP Jenny Chapman said she had previously been assured that Darlington would be unaffected by the merger, but understood that there would be changes to some working practices in areas such as customer finance and supply chain support.

Everything Everwhere said in a statement that its “total focus remained on customer experience excellence” with no frontline customer service or retail store staff cuts.

A three-month review of the business has been undertaken to identify areas where there is overlap under plans to save at least £3.5bn.

The firm has already cut about 30 senior management roles after a shake-up of toplevel staff in July.

The combined group has more than 27 million customers in the UK and 720 retail stores.

Do you work at the Darlington call centre? have you been affected by the announcement? Call the newsdesk on 01325-505064