INVERCLYDE Leisure customers went off the deep end when it changed phone numbers without notifying anyone.

The Tele received complaints that people were unable to get through to the centres.

A call to Gourock Pool, pictured, produced a recorded message saying: ‘Sorry, Gourock Pool is not available’.

No other information was offered to direct callers elsewhere.

Only the Waterfront Centre kept the same number in the change-over to a new provider of phone and internet services for the leisure outfit.

Inverclyde Council’s IT services department previously handled all of this for Inverclyde Leisure (IL).

But the council technical team operates only from Monday to Friday and during office hours, and this has caused problems in the past.

IL head of leisure, David McCorkindale, conceded there were some issues at the start of the switchover, but insisted it will be better for their customers in the long run. He explained: “Previously, our IT services of phones, emails and the website were all done by the council, but we had no support services if anything went wrong out of office hours or at the weekend.

“Phones could go down on Friday, for example, and wouldn’t be fixed until Monday.

“We are a seven-day-a-week operation, so we wanted a new provider who could keep our IT services going all of the time. We have to look at best value and best service.” Mr McCorkindale added: “I’m sorry some people have had problems. There should have been information on the phone voice message to direct callers to the new number.

“It’s been short-term pain for long-term gain.” He said the majority of centre users now use the internet to book or get information, and were directed to a new website by a message on the old one.