For more than 80 years, viewers and listeners who called the BBC’s London switchboard could expect to hear the clipped tones of perfect received pronunciation.

But now callers might notice a distinctly regional flavour.

For The Mail on Sunday can reveal that callers who think they are contacting key BBC sites such as Television Centre and Broadcasting House in London are actually being rerouted to a privately run call centre in Middlesbrough, which is 220 miles outside the capital.

All calls to the BBC’s main switchboard are now handled by a team of 25 call-centre staff, who operate from the 16th floor of office block Centre North East, the tallest building in the region.

The staff field an average of 4,000 calls a day on behalf of key BBC departments, flagship programmes and senior managers including Mark Thompson, the director-general.


A female call handler initially refused to name their actual employer when challenged by The Mail on Sunday. Pressed further, she said: ‘I will go away and check if I can tell you.’ She returned and replied: ‘Yes, we are a call centre in the North East of England.’

The call centre is run by German technology giant Siemens, which has responsibility for the BBC’s IT and communications systems as part of a £2 billion deal.

Siemens initially sub-contracted the BBC work to another North-East call-centre operator called Garlands, which was also based in Centre North East.

But the German firm was forced to take over direct responsibility for the service in June when that firm went into administration.

It is believed to have hired former Garlands employees who would have otherwise faced redundancy.

The BBC last night insisted it was very happy with the somewhat unorthodox arrangements.

Yet its deal with Siemens, which was signed in 2004, has not been without its problems.

Last year, it was reported that the Corporation’s computer systems were on the verge of collapse because of a decision to link computer and phone systems using a single cable network.

This meant that if any single phone or computer went down, the entire system collapsed.

There have been several reports of BBC journalists having to rely on their own mobiles rather than the internal telephone system.

One BBC3 newsreader was even forced to read the news from her iPhone. In November, electronic systems had to be closed down for three hours while emergency repairs were carried out.

Caroline Thomson, the BBC’s chief operating officer, sent an email urging staff to copy and save any important work. She wrote: ‘I would strongly urge everyone to continue to save all work and print out any critical documents.’

A BBC spokesman last night defended the decision to reroute the calls to Middlesbrough.

He said: ‘We are satisfied with the BBC switchboard service provided by Siemens, and any suggestion that its location would impact on the performance of its staff is unjust. The staff in Middlesbrough provide an outstanding quality service.’

A spokeswoman for Siemens said: ‘We have been providing this service for the BBC for the last two years. It has worked very well indeed.’


From "The Mail On Sunday"
Source:-

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1305133/Im-moving-North-says-BBC-HR-boss...