According to a report from the New Zealand Press Association, the firm’s field services manager Donald Carter blamed the closure on “new developments in the technology we use to carry out telephone surveys, combined with the migration from traditional telephone-based surveys to internet surveys”.

“We believe the best solution is to close the Croftfield Lane facility and consolidate telephone-based survey work in our regional network,” he said.

The firm said any employees made redundant would receive their full entitlement, and the firm would support employees in finding other work. But the Unite Union says Colmar Brunton has left its employees with no income just before Christmas and urged the public to boycott the company’s surveys.