HUNDREDS of jobs in Bolton and Farnworth are at risk after home shopping giant Littlewoods revealed plans to merge its Reality and Business Express delivery arms.

The nationwide shake-up, which will take place between February and May of next year, will see nine delivery depots close across the country as the firm centralises its operational support and finance departments across the UK.

Other Reality sites, including the Lorne Street depot in Farnworth, which employs 90 staff, are now "under review" by the company. And Reality's Commercial and Planning department at Thynne Street in Bolton, which houses up to 500 staff, is also under threat.

Announcements on the future of both sites are due in the coming months when the review is complete.

A source in Bolton said: "They're looking at everything and we knew this was coming. It means no-one is safe."

The news comes at the end of a week which has seen 180 jobs lost with the closure of Transco's headquarters in Spa Road, and a further 85 redundancies at Horwich Castings, which ended the town's 120 year link with the railways.

Dr Brian Iddon, MP for Bolton South East said: "It has certainly been a bleak week for jobs in Bolton.

"I was made aware that there would be potential job losses within the Littlewoods group prior to the merger in January, but I am unaware of this latest development."

Littlewoods also revealed that the restructure would affect its finance arm, with 30 jobs going at its finance department on Devonshire Street in Manchester as it moves to a single operation at Whiston on Merseyside. A joint statement, issued to staff by Reality management and the five trades unions whose memberships are affected, said: "The core proposal is to create one new company from Reality and Business Express from May 2005.

In a separate statement, the company added that there was "a huge amount of complex work ahead that will challenge all involved," but that there was "an opportunity to benefit many staff in the medium and longer term".

It said: "All affected employees will have the opportunity to move to the new sites, or to a different site if requested.

The company is intent on retaining the skills, knowledge and experience of its existing workforce."

The depots that will close are St Clears in South Wales, Crayford in Essex, Norwich, Knowsley in Liverpool, Caernarfon in North Wales, Worcester, Warrington, Aberdeen and Inverness. Staff at Reality, whose depots will bear the brunt of the closures, reacted with fury. An employee at Reality's Knowsley depot said that there was a vow to fight the closure of the Knowsley site, where work will transfer to Blackburn or Preston.

"It makes no economic sense to service the Liverpool area from Bamber Bridge near Preston or possibly Blackburn with a workforce that lives in the Liverpool area. This is exactly what oppenents of the merger feared. The unions asked that a caveat be placed on the new owners that the delivery arms be kept seperate. This was ignored and the closure of thirteen sites is just the beginning."

The source also claimed that the closure of Knowsley was a political decision. "The lads at Knowsley don't let the company walk all over them. They've walked out twice this year when the company tried this on, and it's likely to happen again if this goes ahead."

Littlewoods, which completed a £590 million merger with Shop Direct in January, axed 475 jobs in Bolton in the summer, when it closed two mail order centres at Deane and Great Lever. It also revealed plans to lose 116 jobs at the Experian credit checking arm at Thynne Street by March 2005.