Rail enquiries take fast track to India

Around
250 rail enquiries jobs are to be outsourced to call centres in India.

The
move is part of a new £100m contract awarded by the Association of Train
Operating Companies (ATOC) to BT and contact centre firm Ventura.

BT’s
calls will be answered by its partner Clientlogic at centres in the UK and
Bangalore, while some of Ventura’s calls will go to Bombay.

Under
the new contracts – which begin in April – up to half of the calls taken by the
enquiries line will be handled in India.

However,
union Amicus – which has strongly against the trend of firms shifting call
centre jobs to India – was not impressed with the ATOC decision.

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Amicus
general secretary David Fleming said: "Our main concern is why, when firms
such as Littlewoods are coming back to the UK because of concerns over India,
does ATOC think it makes financial sense to send jobs thousands of miles
away?"

By Ross Wigham