More than 20,000 people have joined the Newcastle Evening Chronicle's fight to save a Tyneside call centre from the axe.

Lloyds TSB recently announced plans to close the centre and move the work to India - resulting in the loss of almost 1,000 jobs.

But in a bid to stop the plans, the Evening Chronicle teamed up with the Lloyds TSB Union to lead the campaign to reverse the decision and save the jobs.

Since then the newspaper has been printing coupons for readers to sign and return to show their support, and officials from the Lloyds TSB Group Union have been out on the streets drumming up support.

Now campaigners say more than 20,000 people have added their names to the petition opposing the closure.

If the plans go ahead, it is expected that batches of rendundancies will be made over the next 12 months, with the centre closing in December 2004.

But the Evening Chronicle said it would fight tooth and nail to keep the call centre open and save as many jobs as possible. Its campaign also aims to highlight the threat to call centres, which currently emply around 47,000 in the North East.

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