Hundreds of jobs at risk as Glasgow’s Centrica call centre set to close

Hundreds of staff at Centrica's City Park offices in Glasgow face losing their jobs. PIcture: Google Street View

Around 400 staff at Centrica’s City Park call centre in the east end face losing their jobs as the firm, which runs British Gas and Scottish Gas, prepared to roll out a second wave of cuts.

Trade union GMB Scotland said it was line with the company’s plan to axe 4,000 jobs by next year, but added that it hopes all affected staff could be redeployed elsewhere.

GMB Scotland organiser Hazel Nolan commented: “We are hopeful that the bulk of staff affected can be redeployed back into the business and we’ll certainly be campaigning to sustain as many jobs as possible.

“But let’s be clear this is just one more example of a business going badly wrong and we are in the second wave of a 4,000 jobs cuts plan by 2020.”

“Morale is at rock bottom among the staff and consumers have lost confidence in the service against the backdrop of price hikes,” Ms Nolan added.

“This once great British institution is being run into the ground.”

Sarwjit Sambhi, CEO Centrica Consumer, said: “This difficult decision was made because we need to respond to the growing challenges we face.

“Our customers want more from us. Competition is fierce and we’re operating under a price cap.”

National energy officer Matt Lay said: “Any loss of jobs is disappointing and staff will understandably feel anxious.

“We’ll be working closely with British Gas to ensure no compulsory redundancies and affected employees will be able to move to other local sites, receive training to take on new roles or take advantage of the voluntary severance scheme.”

Centrica announced a raft of cuts 14 months ago, citing a “weak” year which saw British Gas shed three quarters of a million customers.