MORE than 100 call centre jobs are being created in the region.

The Albany Group, which provides legal expense road accident insurance services, is expanding its centre in Peterlee, County Durham.

Albany was bought by Helphire last October for £45.8m and employs 300 people on the Bracken Hill Business Park.

Sue Lane, human resources managing director at Helphire, said: "Initially, we are looking to employ up to 30 customer service advisors at our Peterlee call centre, but we plan to take on another 70 to 80 people during the year."

A further 300 North-East call centre jobs will be on offer at a recruitment fair, in Sunderland next Thursday, from 11am to 4pm. T-Mobile, EDF Energy, Littlewoods, Citifinancial, Northern Rock and Barclays will attend the event, at the Varsity bar in Green Terrace.

Orange, which also has a call centre on Peterlee's Bracken Hill estate and in Darlington and North Tyne-side, last week announced it was carrying out trials in India, leading to fears for hundreds of North-East jobs.

But Gary Barnfather, call centre development officer for City of Sunderland Council, said the sector in the region was still healthy.

"The evidence we have in Sunderland is that companies are still recruiting," he said.