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New call centre is big boost on jobs front

Stephen Foster
31/ 7/2007

JOBS are to be created with the opening of a state-of-the-art national call centre for car hypermarket Carcraft.

The Nixon Street car showroom has just opened the call centre and has now started a summer recruitment campaign to attract up to 35 staff.

This is a welcome piece of news at a time when many jobs are being lost across Rochdale, with the threat of the loss of 1,000 staff at MyTravel's head office at Sandbrook Park and a move out of the area by Ryalux Carpets.

The centre, which now employs more than 70, acts as a central point of contact for the whole Carcraft company.

Sam Lord, the call centre manager, said: "The new centre looks fantastic and I am sure it will give a boost to the whole team and help us to carry on improving our service to customers in Rochdale and across the UK.

"Our biggest strength is the people we employ. We operate as a close-knit team and there are excellent opportunities for career development and progression within the business."

Carcraft, which began life as a petrol filling station in Heybrook, is now one of the largest car hypermarket groups in the country employing 1,700 staff at 17 locations across the UK.

Julie Hilling, regional branch secretary of the Transport Salaried Staff Association union, said there was still no more news about the 1,000 jobs under threat at MyTravel's offices in Sandbrook Park after the company's merger with Thomas Cook.