Trucker turned down for UK job for being British
A SHOCKED lorry driver was turned down for a UK job interview because he was British.
Michael Fowler, 39, received an email from a recruitment consultant telling him “our positions exclude British candidates” after he applied for a delivery driver vacancy just eight miles from his home in Salisbury, Wiltshire.
Recruitment agency Blu Global said it was “completely shocked” after it was shown the email from its consultant telling the lorry driver of 12 years that he could not apply.
It read: “Hi Michael, Are you British because our positions exclude British candidates? Kind regards, Plamena Ivanoa, recruitment consultant.”
Michael, who applied for the driving position on job site Indeed, said it was advertised for drivers “to live and work in the EU”. The advert specified that applicants must be EU citizens and have a good level of English.
Michael said: “I was just gobsmacked. I thought I must have read the job advert wrong, but I hadn’t. I work for agencies all the time. I had applied for this job which said you had to be an EU citizen eligible to work in the UK and could speak English.
“Ten minutes later, I got the email saying ‘Are you British?’ I was taken aback and a bit shocked, to apply for a job that’s eight miles from my house and not be able to go for it.
“I’ve been doing this job for 12 or 13 years and you get drivers from everywhere – Polish drivers, English drivers, people from everywhere. I’ve never really experienced anything like this before.”
A spokesman for Blu Global said Ms Ivanoa, who sent the email, had her contract terminated and the company denied that it would not hire British nationals. The spokesman said: “We refute any allegations that we, as a business, discriminate in any way against our UK-based applicants. “No candidate is denied a chance of employment based on their nationality, age, race, gender or sexual orientation. “We can confirm that we continuously place candidates of European and British nationality with all of our past and present clients as we advertise for, and recruit, candidates both in the UK and across mainland Europe. “Any deviation from this policy, by any member of staff or any independent person or organisation acting under or using the Blu Global brand, is not supported in any way by the company.”