A JOBS boost could be on the horizon for Accrington after a troubled holiday group announced plans to shake up its call centre network.

The MyTravel company plans to close its Manchester call centre with the loss of 160 jobs -- and possibly move the work to its two other centres in Accrington and Newcastle.

Most of the jobs are expected to be transferred to MyTravel's office complex at the Globe Centre at St James' Square which already houses more than 200 staff. MyTravel -- formerly Airtours -- told employees of their plans in a meeting with management.

A MyTravel Group spokesman, said: " At the moment we are looking at ways of consolidating our call centres from three to two. In the end we want to expand our core call centre business and so are looking at ways to avoid redundancies.

"Accrington is within an easy commuting distance of Manchester so staff transferring to that centre is always an option and then calls previously handled at Deansgate can be taken at Accrington.

"Nothing is set in stone and we have not announced any redundancies." MyTravel grew quickly in the 1980s and 90s to become one of the world's biggest travel companies with operations in the UK, America and Europe.

The company was hit harder than most during the recent slump in tourism that followed September 11 and announced losses running into hundreds of millions of pounds. Since then, there has been a boardroom shake-up, the company has restructured its debts, axed almost 2,000 jobs and brought in new management to help put the firm back on track.