Post Office parent company Consignia yesterday confirmed it will shed up to 250 jobs as part of a massive call centre closure plan.

The organisation is to shut 59 of its 70 sites across the country, which handle about a million customer inquiries a month.

It will replace them with 11 "super centres" and claims the changes will boost efficiency and improve service.

Union leaders have pledged to resist any compulsory redundancies among the 4,500 employees concerned.

But the company said it would offer transfers, alternative jobs and voluntary redundancies.

The new centres will be at Bristol, Plymouth, Barnsley, Doxford in Northumberland, Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds, Stoke-on-Trent, Colchester, Bangor in Wales and Donegall Quay in Belfast.

A Consignia spokeswoman said: ''There are likely to be around 250 jobs lost overall once the programme has finished.

"But the priority is to find people another job in another centre or across the organisation so we keep their expertise and experience.

"Staff at an office which is shutting will initially be offered a job at another centre, to relocate them.

"If that is not possible or the individual employee doesn't want that option, we will try and find them another job within Consignia."