Gas worker goes it alone after shock redundancy

A BRITISH Gas engineer has launched his own business after being made redundant under the firm’s recent ‘fire and rehire’ policy.

Carl Capell, 34, was one of thousands of workers asked to sign controversial new contracts last year.

He said his job was terminated after turning down the terms on offer.

He said: “British Gas was all I’d ever known, I went there straight from school and was there for 16 years, my dad was also an engineer there for 35 years, it was a massive company but it had a family feel to it because everyone knew everyone.”

Last year, the firm, owned by Centrica, said it needed to cut 5,000 jobs after losing three million customers and half its income over 10 years.

In an attempt to protect some roles, it proposed changes to workers’ contracts.

The GMB Union said the new contract terms would see engineers working longer hours and more weekends, and equated to a 15 per cent pay cut.

Carl, a dad of two young girls, joined colleagues on the picket line protesting against the proposed changes as union members took 40 days of strike action.

He said: “The financial element did come into it but it was more the work life balance, knowing there was no cap on weekends, working extra hours every week and having no control over that was a worry, I knew that it would eat into family time and I didn’t want that.

“If someone would have said to me nine months ago before this all started that I wouldn’t be working for British Gas by next year, I would have laughed.

“This was never the plan, it’s not something I’d ever thought about doing before this all started.”

As the bitter row rumbled on, Carl and his wife Sarah, who live in the East Midlands, started to think about what would happen if an agreement couldn’t be reached. Sarah has taken on the role of running things behind the scenes.

He said: “In my mind it was Christmas when I thought I need to start planning for life after British Gas, so much had changed that I knew I couldn’t stay there.

“I said to my wife about starting my own business and we agreed the timing was right for us. I was with British Gas for 16 years so that’s stood me in good stead.

“I’ve got a young family which does put the pressure on but I’m ready and excited for the challenge ahead.”