The traditional image of counter clerks and telephonists in the British workplace is being wiped out by a boom in call centres.

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed the number of call centre jobs leapt 220 per cent between the winter of 1996/7 and last summer.

At the same time, the number of people in more traditional roles continued to decline.

In Brighton and Hove, three large call centres have been set up in the past year, creating more than 500 jobs.

The Labour Market Trends study found that during the four years up to mid-2000 there was a 13 per cent fall in the number of people working as counter clerks and formal telephonists. This continued a decline of previous years.

The report said, after little increase in call centre operatives in the 1991 to 1996/7 period, there was an estimated rise in their numbers of over 220 per cent between 1996/7 and 2000.

But, as the number of people working in call centres has grown, so have the reports of poor conditions.

Some workers call them sweatshops where they even have to ask to go to the toilet.

One report from the TUC claimed that a man had his pay docked when he was taken to hospital after fainting.

Such accusations are denied by the industry.

The ONS study also found the number of people working in information technology had grown rapidly in recent years.

The number of IT operations technicians increased by 138 per cent between the winter of 1996/7 and last summer. The number of IT support technicians increased by 70 per cent and software professionals by 29 per cent.