Staff at an insurance company's Morecambe office walked out in response to news that 155 jobs are to be axed.

Axa Insurance announced yesterday (Wednesday) that the jobs are to go following what it calls a 'major re-focus' of its business strategy.

But employees signalled their disgust at the company, which they claim had expected them to work the rest of the afternoon, by staging a walkout.

One shocked worker, who did not want to be named, told the Citizen at the Farmhouse Tavern, Lancaster : "We are shocked and disappointed at the news, but I think that when some jobs went to Bangalore a few months ago most people were expecting the rest to end up there.

"Unfortunately it seems to be the current trend with call centres."

The first lot of jobs will go in April and then the rest before September, but staff are angry that no-one knows yet who is to go and who is to stay.

"We will all still be expected to go back into work tomorrow even though we don't know what is going to happen - that is the worse part about it," says another employee.

Staff say they had to find out the news from team leaders, who had only heard one hour previously.

"They were expected to counsel us and talk us through it - but they are in the same boat as us and do not know if their jobs are safe. The way it has happened is unacceptable," says another worker.

But one member of staff still had room for a joke: "I suppose they have done what they have to do, but at least we did not get a text message from Barbados."

Andy Fairchild, customer services director at AXA Insurance, says the company 'very much regrets' the action it has taken.

"We are consulting with the individuals affected to ensure that they receive as much support as possible. We want to safeguard jobs in the future by ensuring that AXA becomes an even stronger player in the marketplace," he adds.

As a result of the move, AXA Insurance will no longer be known as AXA Direct, the division that promotes motor insurance and other personal insurance direct to the public.