A PERSONAL injury law practice, which opened giant York offices in September, has launched a new £1 million contact centre, generating 80 new jobs in three months.

Minster Law bought out the car accident insurance portfolio of Corries last autumn, taking over its HQ at Alexander House, in Hospital Fields Road, Fulford.

Corries, which generated £17.5 million of solicitors' fees, was relaunched as a separate personal injuries practice at York's Rowntree Wharf, concentrating on asbestos-related illness compensation which it retained.

Now Minster Law is carrying out its expansion plans with a vengeance.

It has invested in the hi-tech contact centre at Alexander House to handle an anticipated 100,000 claims mostly car accidents over the next year.

All of them will be as a result of the practice's ten main insurer suppliers, such as the Budget Insurance Company, Bedford Insurance and Bennett's, the motorcycle insurers, plus a number of new contracts in the pipeline.

Already, the firm has taken on 60 people to man the new centre, and will recruit another 20 by the end of October.

The company, which is also fast recruiting qualified solicitors, as well as a variety of legal and administrative staff, should have 300 staff on the payroll by then.

Bob Perry, chief executive of Minster Law, said: "Since opening our doors in York in 1996, we have grown into one of the area's most successful businesses, achieving consistent growth of more than 30 per cent per annum.

"Investment in people and new premises is key to our strategy. The new contact centre gives us significantly more capacity to increase personnel and is fully equipped with state-of-the-art communications technology."

The opening was performed by Peter Winslow, chief executive of the Budget Group of companies, whose insurance relies exclusively on Minster Law to back claims and legal services.

He said the contact centre "not only demonstrates Minster Law's commitment to local commerce, but its ability to work with us in true partnership to meet customer expectation and need".

Adrian Christmas, chairman of Minster Law, said he was impressed by the quality, flexibility and attitude of York staff.

"It is precisely what people need when they are facing troubled times," he said.