VIRGIN is opening a North-East call centre, creating 20 jobs.

The centre, in Stockton, will take calls from customers in relation to the Virgin Incentives, the company's vouchers business.

It will be headed by newly appointed operations manager Nina Hill, who will lead an initial team of ten staff.

That number will rise to 20 as the service grows.

The former administration manager with Virgin Hotels Group, is busy recruiting the initial intake of staff.

She said: "We expect the call centre to become increasingly busy over the next few months as the popularity of Virgin Incentives products continues to grow.

"It is such an interesting service that the new call centre will provide an interesting, varied and rewarding job.

"We are looking for staff who are good at communications, like dealing with the public in a helpful manner, and who have a flexible approach to handling customer needs."

The Virgin Incentives call centre is at Robert House, Westpoint Road, Teesdale Park.

It takes the growing number of Virgin staff on Teesside to more than 170.

Virgin already has a Virgin Cosmetics Company operation in Eaglescliffe, employing 150 staff.