AXED call centre staff ‘celebrated’ their last day in work today by dancing in the street and singing: ‘We’ve been made redundant!’

Hundreds of workers completed their final shift at the Shop Direct office, in Kingsway, Burnley, after the firm announced plans to close it earlier this year.

At the time, the decision was branded a ‘complete catastrophe’ for the town, but today staff seemed more relaxed.

Home shopping firm Shop Direct, which closed the centre after a dip in phone orders, said many of the 420 employees had secured work elsewhere.

It said 120 had transferred to other sites in the North West, while another 150 had found jobs outside Shop Direct, retired, or gone into full-time education.

This morning, as staff marked their final shifts with conga dances in the street and drinks in nearby pubs, workers reflected on their time at the call centre, which opened as Great Universal Stores in 1970.

Becky Joseph, 39, of Brierfield, said: “It’s the end of an era.

“It’s a bit sad and a bit happy as well.

“It’s a big change and I just wish everybody the best of luck.”

Sharon Barnsley, of Padiham, a customer service adviser of 19 years, said: “My feelings are a mixture of happy and sad.

“I wanted to do something and now I’m moving away from the area to Somerset.”

After Merseyside-based Shop Direct announced the closure of the call centre in January, union and council bosses scrambled to ensure staff would be fully consulted and helped to find new jobs.

USDAW union officer David Johnson said: “Shop Direct spent quite a lot of money with Jobcentre Plus to do all it could to place people elsewhere.

“They had people coming on site to speak to employees, and others transferred to sites in Preston, Bolton and Manchester.

“The sad truth is that the call centre was unsustainable because people place their orders online nowadays,” he added.

Shop Direct, which owns the Littlewoods and Woolworths.co.uk brands, said: “The decision to close the site was made as part of a wider review of how the company uses its contact centre space after it was identified that more than 60per cent of sales were managed through its web and call volumes had fallen from 33million per year four years ago, to 19million today.”

It is understood that no new tenants have been found to move into the call centre building, in Kingsway.