BOLTON suffered a major jobs blow today with the announcement that a call centre is to close.

A total of 116 jobs are to be axed at Experian's Thynne Street centre by March, 2006.

The firm, which is part of the Great Universal Stores empire, has announced the closure of the Bolton office after the decision to axe its credit checking arm.

The job losses were announced along with 750 more at other Experian contact centres in Widnes and Preston.

The company blames increasing competition in the market from China and India, where labour costs are low. A spokesman said some of the redundancies would be compulsory, but it was too early to say when the first workers would be leaving.

Union bosses said they had been left in the dark over the firm's plans to close the centres.

They said they would enter talks with Experian directors today in the hope that jobs could be saved. In addition to the 116 jobs to go in Bolton, 600 will be axed in Preston and 150 in Widnes.

Bolton South East MP Brian Iddon said he was "disappointed" by the job cuts.

The group said it was talking to clients to guarantee that contracts would be fulfilled and consultations were also taking place with staff whose jobs were due to be lost.

Experian spokesman Peter Brooker said: "The quality of the work is good, but it is becoming an increasingly competitive market worldwide and we have become unable to compete.

"We would have to invest a huge amount of money and that has been deemed prohibitive."

Mr Brooker said all the job losses had been announced at once to allow workers to find new jobs.

"We will not be pursuing any new contracts or the renewal of any existing contracts. Some of the contracts will go before 2006 and we will downsize accordingly," he said.

"We're telling people now, but they will be gradually going up to March 2006. One of the reasons we have told people now is to allow them to make alternative arrangements for new jobs.

"We will be contacting employment agencies and consultants and giving advice to workers."

Ahead of the meeting, Usdaw national officer Val Pugh said: "This is devastating news and affects a lot of loyal, long-serving workers.

"The company has not told Usdaw why it has taken this decision. Our first meeting is scheduled for today.

"There had been no reason to suggest problems at any of the three sites, and today's announcement has come out of the blue.

"The priority now is to get answers for our members.

Our emphasis will be on protecting as many jobs as possible."

Dr Iddon said: "I'm very disappointed to hear the news. I'll be speaking with representatives from the union as soon as I get a chance.

"My sympathy goes out to all the workers and I hope the firm will be doing everything it can to give them advice. The management at Thynne Street is very good as far as I am aware and has done everything to help staff there."