TELEPHONE information service Scoot has warned 80 staff working at its Oxford Business Park call centre in Cowley to expect redundancies in December.

The company, formerly called Freepages, has told employees that there will be a partial closure of the week-day call-centre operation from early next month and that job losses are inevitable.

Scoot UK employs 850 people nationwide, 200 of whom work at the firm's Oxford headquarters.

Communications manager Sharon Squire said: "The business is expanding and we receive between 30,000 and 35,000 calls a day to our call centres.

"But we are expanding the call centre in Telford, where rents are cheaper, which means partially closing the Oxford operation."

The Oxford centre will become a support office for Telford during the week.

Now the management is entering a 30-day consultation period with staff "to see if there will be redeployment opportunities within the company for anyone affected by the move".

Ms Squire said: "There will be all sorts of opportunities within this company."

Scoot UK is part of the Freepages Group based in Kensington, London, which employs 1,200 people. In 1997, Scoot posted a £15m pre-tax loss compared with a £10m loss the year before. Revenue for the year to September, 1997, increased 228 per cent to £15.4m but expenses also surged to £14.2m.

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