Bradford's call centre industry will continue to expand and could employ more than 10,000 people within the next three years, it was claimed today.

The city has continued to buck the trend seen in other UK centres where hundreds of call centre jobs have been lost as employers look to cut costs and relocate overseas.

In contrast, Bradford's call centre industry is thought to have grown by about 4,000 people in the last five years and now employs about 7,000.

And today Mick Rollason, investment development manager at Invest in Bradford, predicted the upward trend would continue.

Earlier this month, the Telegraph & Argus revealed Kent-based debt purchase business Cabot Financial was to open a Bradford call centre which could create up to 250 jobs in the next three years. The firm chose Bradford ahead of other northern cities and overseas alternatives like South Africa and India.

News of the move even made headlines in India where the T&A story was featured in the Kerala Newsletter. And it contrasted with what is happening in other UK cities. Last week home shopping giant Shop Direct announced it was closing its call centre in Leeds with the loss of 430 jobs.

Mr Rollason said he was confident other businesses would follow Cabot's lead. And he even hinted he was confident Bradford would benefit from the Govern-ment's commitment to moving civil service jobs out of London.

"There is a strong modernising agenda in Govern-ment and that is going to include more contact and more e-mail activity," he said.

"I think we are likely to find that they choose to cluster this kind of activity in particular city regions."

Mr Rollason said Bradford was an attractive location because of the Council's own dedicated training unit and the large labour pool. He said the ethnic mix was also a factor, with many companies keen to employ Asians so they could communicate with customers who speak no English.

"We have the ability to offer a surprisingly wide range of labour and I know at least one company that has a very large proportion of Asian people working on its staff," he said.

Mr Rollason was confident employment in the sector would continue to grow, with the possibility that the 10,000 figure could be reached within three years. And he insisted that was good news for the city's economy.

"I can only see the industry getting stronger," he said. "From the strength of the enquiries we receive, I can only see Bradford continuing to do very well in attracting businesses. These jobs usually offer good security and promotion prospects and very good quality training."

He added: "I am confident that the offer Bradford gives to employers who are currently here is sufficiently attractive to encourage expansion and others to move here."

David Hodgkiss, business adviser with Business Link for West Yorkshire, played a key role in helping Cabot as it looked to relocate to Bradford.

He echoed the sentiment that the call centre industry was likely to expand further.

"Talking to these people, a key factor is the population trends," he said. "In many parts of the country, the population is in decline but, because of the ethnic make-up of Bradford, that is not the case here and hence we have a growing workforce. Down in Kent, where Cabot is based, lots of companies are competing for the same workers and they struggle to find staff.

"The company employs flexible work patterns and that can suit people like students and parents and I think that they also liked the appeal of the northern accent which seems to work well on the telephone.

"I am confident that other firms will follow them because we are getting enquiries from companies all over the country."

Some of Bradford's biggest call centre employers include customer service specialists Loop, which employs more than 600 people, Thomas Cook, Royal Bank of Scotland, and Cox Insurance. Around 400 Inland Revenue staff will move into its new offices next to Bradford Interchange later this year.