A CLOUD was hanging over more than 600 North-East call centre staff last night after cable TV company ntl announced a major shake-up.

The company said it was cutting 1,500 staff jobs nationwide over the next 18 months as the group merges its 13 call centres into three bases at Manchester, Swansea and Glasgow.

The group announced the closure of its call centres at Winnersh, near Reading, Belfast, Glasgow, Brighton and Cambridge.

A small number of employees would be retained to provide support cover at four centres in Nottingham, Luton, Coventry, and its North-East centre in Stockton.

Although company officials maintained the changes would not lead to job losses in the North-East, staff at the call centre said last night they had already been told to expect the worst.

The Northern Echo understands senior managers were briefed at the customer care centre yesterday and warned to expect redundancy notices this summer.

Although no final decision has been taken on when that will happen, staff told The Northern Echo that statutory 90-day notices are expected to be issued in July.

The customer care centre employs 638 people.

The company is planning to turn the Preston Farm Industrial Estate customer care centre into a specialist site for handling fault management and installation calls.

Company officials maintained the shake-up would not have a major impact.

Public relations director Malcolm Padley said the move to turn Teesside into a specialist centre would safeguard jobs. He said: "Nobody involved in the call centre initiative was put on 90-days notice. The staff were given a presentation, which did tell them about the people in Reading being put on notice - but that is it.

"We have a long association with the area, and even when the centre moves to specialist category we will be looking for full deployment of staff."