Member Article

Virgin Trains could create up to 100 new jobs with move back to Newcastle

Virgin Trains is bringing jobs back to Newcastle, announcing the opening of a new contact centre in Gosforth.

The new site, which has capacity for around 100 people, will begin its first wave of recruitment in the next few weeks, with the new centre expected to be fully functional by late summer.

Virgin previously had a centre based in the North East at Baron House, located on Neville Street, although it currently outsources its contact centre from a third party provider, with teams based in Mumbai and Plymouth.

The firm believes that bringing jobs in-house will boost its overall customer service offering, an announcement which has already been highly praised by Newcastle City Council.

Nick Forbes, Council Leader, commented: “I am absolutely delighted these jobs are coming back to Newcastle. This is great news for our city. Job creation is one of the council’s key priorities and I’m delighted to see Virgin Trains playing their part in this.”

The new centre will be based at the Virgin Money Headquarters in Gosforth and a range of jobs relating to bookings, special assistance and customer relations will be available.

David Horne, Managing Director, Virgin Trains on the east coast route, said: “This is brilliant news for the North East region. Customer experience drives everything we do and we’re bringing these teams back to the city as part of our plans to ensure people get excellent service every time they contact us.

“These new customer centric jobs are also paramount to our business, as we prepare for a new era in rail travel on the east coast route with the introduction of 65 brand new Virgin trains in 2018.”

David Field, Virgin Trains Contact Centre Contract Manager, added: “We’re really pleased to be moving back to the city. We’ll be ramping up recruitment over the next few months to fill a range of positions.

“At this stage, we can’t be specific on job numbers but our ultra-modern new location has capacity for around one hundred staff. We’ll be advertising a mix of permanent and temporary positions and all successful applicants will be offered an excellent benefits package.”