WRITTEN EVIDENCE
SUBMITTED BY
MISS JO
FISH [OS 12]
I have been fully trained by G4S and have seen on
TV and read in the press about G4S's failure to provide sufficient
numbers of trained staff for the London Olympics.
Please see the attached letter which I have sent
to Mr Nick Buckles the CEO of G4S which catalogues some of my
personal experience over the past eight months.
I write to you in your capacity as Chairman of the
Home Affairs Select Committee.
Aside from the disgraceful way I have been treated
(and I am not an isolated case), I believe that G4S should not
only have their management fee for Olympic Security cancelled
but they should also be required to fund the cost of the armed
forces who have been deployed as a direct result of G4S's own
incompetence.
August 2012
ANNEX
LETTER TO NICK BUCKLES, CHIEF EXECUTIVE,
G4S, 7 AUGUST 2012
REF: OLYMPIC
SECURITY STAFF
RECRUITMENT
Dear Sir,
I applied to work for G4S at the London Olympics
back last year and I am writing to lodge a formal complaint regarding
my subsequent treatment. My name is Jo Fish, my national Insurance
Number is xxxxxxx and my date of birth is xxxx.
I have followed the news of G4S failure to supply
the necessary number of trained staff for the London Olympics
with incredulity and am at a loss to understand how this has happened.
I was desperately keen to work at the Olympics in
London as it is clearly a one-off lifetime opportunity. I applied
to G4S and was interviewed, trained, passed all the tests and
have repeatedly chased G4S for confirmation of employment. On
the first day after the initial interview we were told that if
we were initially selected and then attended all the training
days and passed the required courses then we would be offered
employment for the games.
I have regularly chased my application as I will
demonstrate later in this letter. To date I have only received
standard replies such as, I will hear about my employment "within
48 hours" and then "by the end of the week". I
have regularly asked about my specific application but have received
nothing specific to me hence my contacting you directly.
My original interview for a security job at the London
Olympics was on 4 November at 12.00 pm in Bedford after which
I was invited to attend training courses in December and March,
both of which I attended, completed and passed,
I attended and passed the courses on 3-4 December
and 10-11 December 2011 in Bedford.
I attended and passed the searching and screening
course on 26 March again at the University of Bedfordshire. I
even had a phone call to confirm my size for a uniform.
Having heard nothing for some weeks I did the following:
I e-mailed Team G4S Recruitment 2012 BtG on 4 May.
I e-mailed xxxx xxxx at A1 training on 4 May.
I e-mailed xxxx xxxx at A1 security on 5 May.
I e-mailed Recruitment2012 BtG on 8 May.
I contacted xxxx xxxx at "Bridging the Gap"
who advised me to contact xxxx xxxx which I did on 16 May.
Later on 16 May I received a reply from xxxx xxxx
who said she had highlighted my case with G4S and I should be
patient and xxxx xxxx would contact me "within the next week
or so".
On 30 May I received a reply from Team G4S Recruitment
2012BTG in reply to my e-mail of 4 May stating they were dealing
with my application and I would hear from them soon.
On 12 June I received an e-mail from G4S congratulating
me on my progress saying I would soon receive a phone call from
them. I received no such call despite the fact that I confirmed
my availability.
On 12 July I sent a chase up e-mail to team G4S.
On 12 July I received a reply from G4S saying I would
hear from them within the "next few days".
On 16 July, having still heard nothing and with the
media headlines stating G4S could not recruit enough staff, I
sent another chase up e-mail to team G4S.
On 19 July, I received a reply from G4S stating "Our
scheduling department will be in touch with you soon to provide
you with details about your employment with G4S for the London
2012 Olympics and Paralympic Games."
On Wednesday 26 July at 17.30 pm, I received a text
message from G4S asking if I was still available to work at the
Olympics.
On Wednesday 26 July at 17.30 pm, I immediately replied
confirming that I was still available.
On 3 August I received a reply to my e-mail of 12
July which states "Unfortunately, if your application
has been deemed unsuccessful by our screening and vetting department
then we will no longer be able to take your application any further."
Given that I have not been advised that my application
has failed the G4S screening and vetting process. I am confused
by this response. This response does not tell me I have failed
the screening and vetting it states "if".
If I have failed the screening and vetting process
I would like to understand why?
Today I have received an e mail which says "We
have been processing tens of thousands of applications and each
journey to London 2012 is different, depending on roles including
locations, venues, skills, training, vetting and scheduling. We
are all working very hard to ensure that everyone working at London
2012 is fully ready to be deployed once they have completed all
stages of the journey successfully. We apologise that for many
people this seems to have taken a long time. It is really important
that if you receive an email from us, that you read it carefully
as it tells you clearly what you need to do and how you could
benefit by signing up to work as soon as possible. If you haven't
received any emails yet, don't worry—further communications
are still being sent. Team G4S".
I am totally confused and extremely disappointed.
I believe that throughout I have demonstrated my
desire and commitment to work at the 2012 London Olympics and
do not understand why I have been treated in such a manner.
I am extremely disappointed that the commitments
given through the training have not been honoured. I am disappointed
that I appear to have wasted so many days undertaking all the
training especially as I passed on up the opportunity to take
my level 1 Football Coaching Qualification to attend the G4S weekend
training, but above all I am disappointed that I am missing a
once in a lifetime opportunity to be part of the 2012 London Olympics.
According to the news and G4S own press releases,
G4S are desperately short of staff and yet here I am trained and
keen so I can only assume that I am being discriminated against.
I would like to hear why I was not offered employment
when I had passed all the training and yet G4S are unable to supply
sufficient trained staff.
Yours sincerely,
Miss Jo Fish
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