Call centre deal with Vodafone 'secures' future

A Larbert-based call centre firm has said it has secured its future in Scotland after announcing a deal with mobile phone company Vodafone UK.

HEROtsc, which runs seven call centres across Scotland and one in England, will now take over Vodafone's Warrington customer service centre.

A spokesman for the company said the centre would deal with Vodafone's "high value" customers.

All 600 employees at Warrington will now transfer to HEROtsc.

Last April, the company - then called TSC - was forced to close its Greenock premises after contractor T-Mobile moved work overseas.

More than 200 workers at HEROtsc in Larbet, near Falkirk, also faced the axe.

But following a deal with broadcaster Sky, the firm was able to re-employ the bulk of the staff it had laid off and it has now increased the number of employees.

'Multi-year deal'

HEREOtsc's chief executive officer David Turner said: "This agreement strengthens our operations in Scotland, because for the past nine years we've been running Vodafone's pre-pay operations from our centres in Kilmarnock and Dunoon.

"The fact that they have awarded us with this latest deal that will see us take on their high-value contract customers is a real testament to our ability and what we have already achieved for them in terms of customer service, innovation and value."

Mr Turner said Vodafone's choice to outsource its "highest-value customers" was unusual.

He added: "All those lost T-Mobile jobs were replaced, and this new Vodafone is a multi-year deal - I can't be specific at this stage - but it provides security for our operations in Scotland."