The Lord Mayor, Coun Peter Vaughan, and the Lady Mayoress, Coun June Vaughan, celebrate with champagne at the opening of the Internet Exchange cafe today in Stonegate Picture: Garry Atkinson

Dotty about the Internet

A new Internet facility opened in York this afternoon, offering access to some of the very ltest technology.

The Internet Exchange caf in Stonegate is part of a leading chain of "stylish and jargon-free" Internet stop-offs and is the largest of its kind in Yorkshire.

It was opened by the city's Lord Mayor, Councillor Peter Vaughan, and Town Crier John Redpath.

A spokesperson for the company, Nomi Kakoty, said: "There will be free access all day until March 14, from which time it will cost £1 for two hours.

There is a membership scheme which is free to join in store which costs just 3 pence per minute."

A major law firm is considering setting up an online conveyancing operation in York, creating several hundred high quality jobs.

And Evening Press readers are being asked to help persuade the practice that the York commuter belt, including Malton, Selby, Pocklington and Tadcaster, has the workforce with the right skills to fill the posts.

The law firm has ambitious plans to set up a centre for customers who want to use the telephone or the internet to carry out property conveyancing more swiftly and efficiently.

York is one of a number of locations around the region which are in the frame, but the firm is not sure there are enough people within the workforce with the necessary skills.

Now the York Inward Investment Board has placed a speculative advert in tonight's Evening Press classified columns, asking anyone with property conveyancing experience to submit a CV.

The last time the board placed such a speculative ad, it was hoping to attract CPP Card Protection Plan to York. The firm arrived a year ago and now employs more than 350 people, with a planned payroll of more than 1,200 staff.

Board chief executive Paul Murphy said: "I would urge readers, if they have any conveyancing experience, to check out the advertisements and send me their CVs if they would like to help bring the jobs to York.

"We can't promise that we will be successful, but I will reply personally to everyone who submits a CV, and if the company does decide to locate here, they will be given priority in the recruitment process."

The firm, which does not wish to be identified at this stage, is looking for both experienced conveyancers, with sound knowledge of leasehold and freehold title checking procedures, and junior conveyancers, with basic knowled ge of conveyancing procedures and other skills.

It wants friendly, outgoing people with excellent telephone manners, who enjoy working as part of a team.

There was also gloom on the jobs front in North Yorkshire with the announcement that one of Norton's major employers has finally ceased production.

The Malton Clothing factory, a part of the Scunthorpe based Tasou Group, has closed with the loss of about 37 jobs. The remaining workers, numbering 40, have accepted an offer to transfer to another factory within the same group at Driffield.

The job losses are across the board and include shop floor workers, management and office staff.

Darren Muir, personnel manager for the Tasou Group, said:

"The factory has closed. We have 28 machinists coming here. The rest have been made redundant."

Workers were notified by letter of the intention to close the factory, which produced lines for Top Shop and Dorothy Perkins, on Wednesday, February 9.

The factory was taken over by the Scunthorpe-based Tasou Group in May 1998. Prior to that it had been owned by Dewhirst and was a major supplier to Marks & Spencer.

When the Norton floods struck the town last March, the factory was left under 4ft of water.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.