Yellow Pages is holding trials with full-colour
directories, which, if successful, would use RR Donnelley's colour capacity at its new 37m premises at Knaresborough.


Donnelley printed the trial directories, which have been distributed in Bournemouth, Dundee and Taunton.


Yellow Pages press and PR manager Joanne Lemon said: "It's just a trial so we don't know when or if it will become countrywide. We want to see what customers and advertisers think before making firm commitments."


Lemon confirmed that if Yellow Pages made the leap to colour nationally, RR Donnelley, which secured the contract in 1999 (PrintWeek, 24 September 1999), would carry out the work.


She said there would be a premium on colour advertising, but not how much.


RR Donnelley is still in the process of transferring from York to Knaresborough and is expected to be fully operational by the second quarter.


UK managing director Roy Houston said: "We've already got three of four MAN Roland Uniset presses in but at the moment we're operating from two plants. It's really state of the art, a bit special."


The move will mean 80 voluntary redundancies from the York plant, but 40 of these jobs are to be filled by workers from the Knaresborough area.


GPMU Leeds & Central Yorkshire joint branch secretary Donald Place said: "The move guarantees 300 jobs for the foreseeable future, so we're delighted. At the time we were worried that Donnelley could move out of the country."


Story by John Davies