STAFF sacked from a North-East call centre last week will be paid for the next six months, it was announced yesterday.

Last Wednesday, banking group Abbey announced it was closing its contact centre in Gateshead, making 235 people redundant.

Unions dubbed it Black Wednesday, as a total of 1,500 workers lost their jobs, including 760 at LG Philips, in Durham.

The Abbey call centre is to close at the end of the month, but workers will be given "gardening leave" and paid their salaries for up to six months. It follows a deal agreed between Abbey and unions representing the workers, Amicus and Abbey National Group Union (Angu).

Linda Rolph, general secretary of Angu, said: "We are never pleased when anyone loses their job.

"But at least we have been able to buy them six months to look for a new job and still pay the mortgage."

A spokeswoman for Abbey said the amount of paid gardening leave would depend on length of service. She said the group would still be saving money on the operational costs of the building.

Meanwhile, the future of 550 workers at Abbey's call centre in Thornaby, near Stockton, remains unclear.

The lender has been cutting costs since it was taken over by Spanish group Banco Santander last year.

It said last week that all its contact centres were under review, as part of an overhaul of its operations.