Wimbledon accused of sacking temporary staff for ‘bizarre’ reasons

At least three people were sacked for sitting on the hill after their shift

Wimbledon has been accused of sacking temporary staff for 'bizarre' reasons after overestimating the number of workers needed at the tournament. As reported by the Guardian, it is thought that a number of people - working on temporary contracts in hospitality and housekeeping - lost their jobs for reasons such as going to the toilet without asking for permission. It adds that at least three temporary members of staff lost their jobs for sitting on the hill with a drink after their shift had ended.

A 19-year-old gap year student, working as part of the housekeeping team, said that they were 'chuffed' to work at Wimbledon because they were paid relatively well.

"But we were working on Wednesday and during our lunch break my [friend] sat on the hill and had some strawberries," they said.

"Next thing, he gets an email saying that he won’t be getting any more shifts. Now we’re literally all bricking it to do anything on our breaks or even sit on the hill after we finish working in case we get told there won’t be any more shifts for us. The whole thing is bizarre."

Another temporary worker labelled the situation a 'shambles', adding: "I think it’s reflective on the management here. They’re firing people left, right and centre. They’re basically overstaffed and they said there’s not enough fans here – not what they expected – so they’re having to fire people.

"People are being fired because they’re overstaffed and they’re using the fact that staff are watching tennis and drinking as an excuse."

AELTC was looking to reduce its staffing numbers

The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC) was looking to reduce its staffing numbers, and confirmed that in an email sent by a contractor to its staff.

"As you may have noticed, visitor numbers are lower than expected, for this reason the AELTC have asked that we look at reducing our day staff numbers," it reportedly said.

While the capacity at Wimbledon is 42,000 a day, attendance has been slightly lower than expected. On Wednesday and Thursday earlier this week, there were roughly 38,500 fans in attendance.

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• Wimbledon: Nick Krygios spits at fan and calls line judge ‘an old man’