Saying hello in Welsh is hazardous for call centre staff's health

Staff at a council in Wales have stopped answering their phones in Welsh because it may strain their vocal cords.

English-speaking employees have been allowed to drop the added courtesy greetings for health and safety reasons.

Callers will no longer hear the lilting "bore da" - good morning - or "prynhawn da" after noon.

Most large organisations in Wales have a bilingual policy and answer phones this way.

But union officials claim the extra words could strain workers' voices if they did it all day, particularly if their mother tongue is not Welsh. Phone operators at the Vale of Glamorgan council in Barry, a mostly English-speaking town, are the first to stop bilingual answering to save their voices.

One council worker echoed the anger of Welsh-speaking groups, saying: "It's ridiculous. It's political correctness gone mad.

"How much can it hurt simply to say 'bore da' or 'prynhawn da' when you answer a phone?"