STAFF at the Royal Mail office in Leeman Road face re-location out of North Yorkshire after an announcement that all customer service centres are to be merged into four giant call centres.

Nine staff at the customer service centre in Leeman Roa, York, have been told they will be re-located or moved to different posts after Royal Mail announced it is to close all 11 centres nationwide.

The closure was announced to staff in the York call centre last month, but a spokeswoman for Royal Mail said today that no changes would be made in York until next spring.

She said: "The reason we are closing the 11 centres and forming four big service centres is to give a more effective, more efficient and more competitive service for our customers. We are centralising.

"The process will begin in the autumn as we move the 11 call centres to Manchester, South Yorkshire, Birmingham and Bristol. Most of our employees will either re-locate or be moved into other posts.

"We will be carrying out a detailed survey of our staff and what they want."

The closure affects callers to Leeman road with complaints or general inquiries and does not affect personal collection of parcels or visits to the inquiry office. Staff in the sorting office, which occupies the same building, will not be affected either.