Exclusive: Virgin axes venue sales and 204 posts

Virgin Media is axing its sales staff in shopping centres and city High Streets, with the loss of up to 204 jobs, it was revealed today.

The company put its venue sales on hold on Friday and is due to close the department completely.

A Virgin Media spokesman declined to give a reason for the change but said: "Following a review of our venue sales function we are proposing to close this department with immediate effect."

He said 204 staff who worked in shopping centres, city centres and other "venues" were now "at risk" of redundancy.

"We realise this will be unsettling for these employees, but we're committed to working with them to explore all possible redeployment opportunities. We aim to keep compulsory redundancies to an absolute minimum."

One employee, who did not want to be named because of the redundancy situation, said staff across the country were called in for meetings on Friday to be told the news. They were put on leave with full pay and given 90 days' notice.