Sainsbury’s chief used staff to do up £1.5m country pile

SAINSBURY’S chairman used the supermarket giant’s staff and its suppliers to revamp his £1.5m country bolthole.

Sainsbury’s contractors installed underfloor heating at David Tyler’s luxury barn conversion (pictured) near Lewes in East Sussex.

Tyler (pictured below right), who earns £496,000 a year, later told the board, which launched an investigation and issued the chairman with a warning. He later gave a £5,000 charity donation.

Sainsbury’s said his failure to comply with company policy was ‘unintentional’ and that he ‘did not act dishonestly and made no financial gain’.

However, it found there had been ‘material breaches’ of three company policies, which the grocer viewed as an ‘extremely serious matter’.

In 2013, Tyler asked workers to help him refurbish his lakeside second home – which has a swimming pool and extensive grounds. Several times during working hours, an employee visited Tyler’s home. He then asked a supermarket building contractor to come up with an action plan – which it then carried out for free.

The contractor fitted a £10,000 oilfired boiler using builders already working on Tyler’s property.

The 63-year-old also asked two Sainsbury’s suppliers for specialist advice on alternative fuel sources for the heating system. After the work was complete, Tyler contacted company secretary Tim Fallowfield to arrange to pay the company for its employees’ time.

This sparked an investigation which found Tyler had breached the grocer’s code of ethical conduct and guidelines on ethical suppliers.

He had also breached company policy on conflict of interest and relationships at work. As well as his home in Sussex, he has a London property where he lives with his partner Margaret Fingerhut, a concert pianist.

A Sainsbury’s spokesman said: ‘The chairman was given a warning but the board concluded his failure to comply with policy was unintentional, that he did not act dishonestly and made no financial gain.’