Worried members of staff at a Virgin Media call centre have accused the company of putting their health at risk after it emerged one of their colleagues who had been self-isolating with coronavirus symptoms had died on Thursday night.

The woman, aged in her 50s, had been away from her work at the media giant's Concord House office in Wythenshawe since March 23.

But she died on Thursday night, prompting the temporary closure of the office for a deep clean.

Chief operating officer Jeff Dodds told shocked staff about the death in a conference call at 9am on Friday in which he confirmed the office would be re-opening on Saturday.

It prompted scores of worried members of staff to contact the M.E.N. to express concern about an alleged lack of social distancing at the office and another office in Baguley, alleging they were being asked to carry out non-essential work like convincing customers not to leave them.

Virgin has denied allegations, insisting they were doing more than was required to keep their staff safe and roll out home working for anxious call centre staff following the death.

They insisted work being carried out at the office was 'essential' and kept customers, hospitals and emergency services connected during the coronavirus crisis.

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

One employee at Concorde House, who did not want to be named, said: "They don't apply the two metre rule. It's over-crowded. It's not safe. If you're not well, the managers aren't saying 'get yourself home'. They are saying it's down to you. It's not being pushed enough that if you have symptoms, you leave immediately. It doesn't seem that there's any urgency in getting people working from home. People are desperate for the money so they are coming in."

Another member of staff said: "Day by day people are going off with symptoms but that desk isn't being cleaned. People are sitting at that desk because they are trying to separate us out. They've given me a phone and a laptop to work from home but they won't allow us to work from home. They are telling us to come into the building but it's not safe and it's not clean. People are sitting across from each other and next to each other. The social distancing guidelines are not being followed. Now someone has caught the virus and ended up dying.

"I feel neglected. I feel my health and safety is not being looked at. It's not a priority for Virgin. If it was, they would be telling us to work from home. It's a bit of a joke really."

Another employee said: "It's not safe to work in there. We have all got laptops in work. Why can't we just work from home? It's not right. I don't have any health conditions but many of my colleagues do. I'm worried for them. If they caught it, it scares me. Something bad could happen."

An employee who works at the Baguley office said: "I've worked for this company for a long time and it's a petri dish here at the best of times. I find it incredible a technology company cannot find a way for us to work from home. They are putting people into positions where they have no choice but to come into work."

The government has deemed communications workers as 'essential' and a spokesman for Virgin Media insisted the work going on at its Wythenshawe office was to ensure people remained 'connected' during a time of crisis.

The spokesman insisted social distancing was in operation at its offices as well as other hygiene measures and 'floor splitting' to help people stay apart from each other.

He said that although it was possible to call customers via the laptops from home it was not yet possible to receive calls. Remote working for call centre staff was 'still being tested' and once completed would be offered to staff.

He went on that 'thousands' of Virgin Media staff were already working from home.

Staff were carrying out 'retention' work but this concerned people ringing up about their bills or packages, he said, adding that the company had been urged by the government to help customers manage their finances so this was 'essential' work.

IT staff also work at Concorde House to keep critical Virgin Media systems running and work to enable more staff to work from home and maintain connectivity for hospitals and the emergency services, he said.

He said staff had been told to adhere to 'strict hygiene and distancing measures' and were urged to go home if they had coronavirus symptoms.

A Virgin Media statement said: “It’s with great sadness and a heavy heart that we have been informed one our team members who worked in Wythenshawe has passed away. We do not know the full facts, but we believe the individual may have passed away from underlying health issues related to coronavirus as the person was self-isolating at the time.

“We know how upsetting this is for everyone at Virgin Media. We are supporting our Wythenshawe teams at this difficult time and continue to provide advice and guidance as well as making sure people can ask any questions they may have. The health and well-being of our employees is always our top concern so, as a precaution and in addition to the existing hygiene measures already in place, we have temporarily closed the site while we carry out extensive cleaning.

“We send our deepest sympathy and condolences to the individual’s family and friends.”