A BT directory inquiries centre in the North-East is to close with the loss of 120 jobs.
The Durham centre, which handles calls to the 192 service, is among five in England and Scotland being axed. The 120 staff, of whom 63 are employed by BT and 57 by agencies, were informed of the closure on Friday.
The BT workers will have the chance to relocate to Sunderland or Middlesbrough, where they will be retrained for new departments or take voluntary redundancy.
The agencies will be responsible for finding their staff other jobs.
Along with the centre in Providence Row, Durham, BT centres in Leamington Spa, Hemmel Hempstead, Irvine and Glasgow, which offer operator and international directory inquiries services, as well as 192, are also closing.
The Durham centre is expected to shut by June 29. A spokesman for BT said the move was unavoidable due to a fall in demand for call centre services.
"A lot of it is to do with the downturn in the number of calls due to customers moving to alternative providers, like the Internet and mobile phones," he said.
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