ONE of the UK’s leading motoring organisations could be set to cut 100 jobs with around half of these being from its Basingstoke HQ.

The AA, whose headquarters is based in Fanum House, Basing View, will mainly be making the cuts to the management and administrative roles at the company.

An internal message announced details of a restructuring, which will not affect frontline workers.

The GMB union said the company was also planning to close its national training centre in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire.

GMB regional officer Paul Grafton accused the AA of “squeezing the last drop” out of the business before it is franchised.

He said: “The closure of the national training centre will reduce structured training and in the end in our view impact on quality of service delivered by the patrol force.

“GMB believes that the reduction in the numbers of managers and administration staff will also impact on the quality of the service and leave problems that should be dealt with unresolved.

“All these cuts are a direct result of the unsustainable levels of debt left by the previous private equity owners.”

This announcement comes five months after the AA decided to make a U-turn on moving its headquarters to a new state-of-the-art office space in Basing View.

As previously reported in The Gazette, the motoring organisation said that moving office would not be “financially viable”.

The AA said it will be consulting on its plans until February 24, adding that the changes were necessary to develop the business and focus on the customer facing side of the company.

Simon Breakwell, chief executive of the AA, said: “We believe that we can make our business more efficient by concentrating our resources where they are most needed by our customers – on the front line.

“Hence we are looking to streamline some head office management roles by focusing them further on our core priorities, reducing duplication and automating processes.

“The consultation period will allow us to work with our union the IDU, management forum and indeed our employees to find the best solution for our customers and the business. I am aware that this will be an unsettling period for those affected but we will offer as much support as we can.”