There was further employment misery in Britain today as National Express told a leading trade union that it would be cutting more than 300 jobs in its East Anglia rail operations.

Officials from the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) said National Express had told them it would be closing its call centre in Norwich as part of overall cuts in the workforce.

Of the 94 staff employed at the call centre, 21 will be transferred to a customer service centre at Norwich station.

TSSA said that 314 posts would be lost in total. The remainder National Express sheds 300 in new jobs gloom of the cuts, mainly in administrative staff, are to be spread across the company and include 72 vacancies that will now not be filled.

Gerry Doherty, general secretary of the TSSA, said: "We are surprised at the size of the cuts, given that National Express only announced three weeks ago that its rail revenues have increased 9 per cent in the past 12 months."

He added: "This is a bad blow for the Eastern region, which is suffering higher unemployment like all other regions in the country."

A spokesman for National Express confirmed that the Norwich call centre would be closed and said that the company would introduce changes to food and drink provisions on Norwich to London trains, removing the restaurant service.

The spokesman added: “Also, as any sensible business does, we are constantly reviewing the structure of the business. We are undertaking a review to give greater focus on customer service and operational delivery.

"Our people are being fully consulted and the outcomes are being shaped by consultation with trade unions and elected staff representatives."

The spokesman said National Express was unable to confirm how many employees would be affected by the review of the company while the consultations were underway.

In February, National Express said booming demand for rail travel, despite well-publicised problems on the rail network and above-inflation increases in ticket prices, enabled it to commit to raising its dividend by 10 per cent over the next three years.

The transport group, which is also the largest operator of coaches in the UK, fought off competition from rivals including FirstGroup, Arriva and a Virgin-Stagecoach consortium to win the franchise to provide long-distance train services on the East Coast main line in August 2007, succeeding GNER with a £1.4 billion bid.

The news follows a week of announcements about job cuts across industry, from the telecoms and media sectors to banking.

Yesterday, the Local Government Association (LGA) gave warning that workers in London and the South East are likely to be worst hit by the recession, with a prediction that one in 12 jobs will be cut in the next 18 months.

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