Four hundred people have lost their jobs after a cable communications firm announced it was closing a call centre.

The surprise announcement was made yesterday. Staff at the NTL centre in Gardner Road, Portslade, were told the main part of the business would shut on May 4.

Sales and customer relations workers are unaffected and about 50 people will continue to work at the building.

The company intends to concentrate work at its purpose-built call centres in Glasgow, Manchester and Swansea.

A spokesman said some staff would be offered the chance to move.

Those who did not would receive enhanced redundancy payments and job-seeking advice.

Staff were shocked and some cried as they listened to the announcement.

One worker said: "I'm not happy it has happened but we've got three months to find a job.

"They just took us in groups and told us. Some people were very upset and some were crying.

"Most of us are from Brighton, Worthing and Lancing. Going to Wales or Scotland is not realistic."

Another said: "I just thought it was quite disgusting. There are people who have been there for years and they were shown a lack of respect."

Chris Power of the Communication Workers Union, which represents some staff at the centre, said: "It is extremely unfortunate we are going to lose these jobs and we are concerned they want to redeploy some of these people."

NTL strategy director Martyn Oakley said the company had to ensure it could continue to grow and deliver value to customers and shareholders.

He said: "This has not been an easy decision and it is one we would rather not have had to make.

"Now our focus is to work with our Brighton staff to ensure they are provided with the best possible redeployment or outplacement support and advice."

NTL, which inherited the Portslade call centre from Cable & Wireless, said purpose-built sites elsewhere were better equipped and easier to modify.

The company said the three newer centres would recruit approximately 300 new staff during the next four months.

Steven Gauge of Sussex Enterprise said the local economy remained in good shape but the Government needed to invest in the county's infrastructure to make sure yesterday's redundancies were a one-off.

He said: "Brighton and Hove has buoyant and growing levels of employment in the call centre industry and employers in Sussex are continually looking to recruit people with the relevant skills for work of this nature."

The Portslade centre handles fault reports and customer service inquiries for NTL's cable television, telephone and internet services from the South-East, London and East Anglia.