UP TO 80 jobs are to be axed at printing group Goodhead, in Bicester.

Managing director of operations, Ron England, said the company had introduced modern presses, which needed fewer people to run them.

He said: "We are closing one or our older presses. It's just restructuring. There is no loss of capacity and there is no effect on our customers.

"It is not the forerunner for closure quite the opposite. We are restructuring our operations it's really to secure our future investment programme and regenerate the Goodhead Group."

Mr England added that the company was looking for volunteers but compulsory redundancies were expected.

He said that as well as closing one press, the company no longer needed 'floaters' workers who cover for holidays. Numbers at Bicester are expected to fall from 265 to 190.

He added: "We have also been through major changes at our web printer in Colchester.

"However, we are investing in our sheet-fed printer, Stones, at Banbury, which is not affected by the restructuring."

The Goodhead Group, owned by millionaire Reading FC chairman John Madejski, earlier this year lost its BT contract to print 171 UK local directories from March.

Jobs were cut among the 180 workers at the group's Colchester plant, where the telephone books, with a print run of 22 million, were produced.

Remaining clients include Private Eye and Exchange & Mart.

Two years ago, about 70 jobs were lost at Bicester because of the introduction of modern technology. The cold-set arm of the business, which produced newspapers and relies on ink drying naturally, closed down.

The latest redundancies are subject to a 30-day consultation period. Talks will start on Mondayjuly 17 with representatives from the Amicus-GPMU trade union.

The Bicester plant is part of Benhamgoodheadprint (BGP), the web printing division of Goodhead.

The company, which for many years printed the Oxford Mail, was founded in 1973 as Goodhead Press.

It changed its name in 1988 to Goodhead Print and in 1990 began to concentrate printing colour magazines and catalogues.

Another long-established Oxfordshire printing firm, Alden Press, made 26 workers redundant earlier this year after losing a contract with Blackwell's that has been moved to Singapore.

Alden's managing director William Alden said the company, which has moved from its site in Osney Mead, Oxford, to Witney, would be building another factory in Malaysia in a bid to win back the business.