300 jobs still threatened in Athlone

Bookmaker William Hill is still considering closing a call centre which employs nearly 300 people in Athlone, it emerged today.

Staff at the centre in Athlone, Co Westmeath, were first told on Saturday and chief executive David Harding said a consultation process with employees was now under way.

But he added: "The cost base has been increasing quite substantially for some time. If we can’t resolve that, we will have to close it."

Staff costs account for between 60 and 70% of the centre’s outgoings.

Mr Harding said the site could be closed by April next year if not sooner and calls would then be handled by its Leeds operation.

"We have a lot of capacity in Leeds that can more than handle the demand," he added.

Mr Harding said there could be some relocation of personnel, though it was likely most staff would be made redundant.