30/11/2006 - 200,000 and counting for Cumbrian

A high-tech contact centre set-up by Cumbria County Council and Agilisys Ltd and funded by the Office of Fair Trading is celebrating its first birthday this week.

Since opening at the end of 2005, the Barrow based Consumer Direct contact centre has handled nearly 200,000 calls and created 53 jobs with more expected to follow.

The centre provides clear, practical, advice to help people sort out problems and disagreements with suppliers of goods or services.

Since opening, Cumbria Trading Standards has seen the average number of telephone enquiries it receives fall from 14,000 each year to around 2,000.

Earlier this year it was revealed that more jobs could soon be on the way to the Barrow centre following a government decision to expand the Consumer Direct service to cover organisations such as PostWatch, EnergyWatch and the OFCOM Consumer Panel.

Head of Cumbria Trading Standards Phil Ashcroft said: "The success of Consumer Direct over the past twelve months has been there for all to see. More and more consumer advice calls are being received from across the North West and this means Trading Standards can focus even more attention on tackling serious offences like doorstep crime, counterfeiting and the sale of alcohol to underage children."

Barrow's Consumer Direct contact centre manager Greg South, said: "The last year has been extremely exciting. In that time we've developed tremendous relationships with all the Trading Standards offices in North West.

"We are really pleased with the effort from everyone associated with Consumer Direct in Barrow and are looking to what is bound to be a challenging and prosperous year ahead as the centre continues to grow."

To contact Consumer Direct, contact 0845-404-0506

ENDS

Media enquries to Mark Graham, Media Officer on 012228-606337