26 November 2008

Co-operative Travel call centre to close

Apollo Travel Direct, a member of Co-operative Travel Group, is to cease operating in Rotherham from April 3.

The agentÃ¢â¬â¢s director of distribution Alistair Rowland said: "It is with the deepest regret that after a long period of careful consideration we have taken the decision to close the call centre in Rotherham.

"Fulfilment of third party business - the mainstay of ApolloÃ¢â¬â¢s operations - is no longer sustainable for agents, and the situation is unlikely to improve going forward. As such, the business model of Apollo Travel Direct has become untenable.

"It is with great reluctance that we have taken the decision to cease operations, which will result in a number of redundancies."

Apollo Travel Direct employs 150 staff at offices on Rawmarsh Road.

All staff have entered in to a consultation period, and it is hoped that alternative positions can be found for a number of staff in other areas of the travel business, such as Medinland in Sheffield, high street travel branches and the homeworking division Future Travel.

The Rotherham branch of Co-operative Travel Management, which shares its offices with Apollo Travel, is unaffected by the closure.

By Bev Fearis