Royal Mail chiefs hire criminals for festive post work

[POSTMAN]

http://www.scotsman.com/edinburgh-eveni ... _1_2014220" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

WORKERS with criminal records were hired to help sort through Edinburgh’s Christmas mail, the Evening News can reveal.

Six casual workers completed a week of shifts at the busy Sighthill sorting office before they were sacked when their offences came to light.

Royal Mail today said all of the 600 temporary staff hired were “closely supervised” during shifts, and the six workers – some of whom are thought to have convictions for theft – were let go as soon as Disclosure Scotland vetting checks came back.

Bosses added that protecting customer’s mail was of “paramount importance”, and the “majority” of temporary workers had been vetted before starting at the west Edinburgh facility.

But Tory councillor Jason Rust said all the checks should have been done in plenty of time.

He said: “It’s very concerning that the proper checks were not carried out in advance of these employees starting work. Obviously the Royal Mail were aware of the need for extra staff for some time, and they should have made sure people were checked properly.

“Anyone handling the mail needs to have undergone appropriate checks, and that’s especially true during the Christmas period when potentially valuable items are passing through the postal system.

“Royal Mail have taken action here, but I would hope they make preparations well in advance for next year.”

The workers completed their first shift on Saturday, but were informed on Thursday that their short-term contracts, due to run until Christmas Eve, were being terminated.

One of the sacked workers, Paul Kernachan, 22, from Slateford, said the recruitment agency which put him forward for the job told him his assault conviction would not disqualify him. Mr Kernachan said: “I applied for the job through a recruitment agency. I told them I had a criminal record and they said it wouldn’t be a problem, they had put other people forward who also had a record. They passed me on and I started work at the Sighthill depot on Saturday and everything was fine.

“I worked sorting out the letters and parcels and everything was going well. Then on Thursday I was told they were letting me go because I had a criminal record. I told them I had been honest about that and had been told it didn’t matter but that was it. I spoke to other people who were let go for the same reason. Some of them had convictions for thefts.”

Mr Kernachan, who was earning £6.08 per hour with overtime available, said he was convicted of assault last year after becoming involved in a drunken fight.

Royal Mail spokeswoman Morag Turnbull said: “Royal Mail’s Christmas recruitment campaign is the biggest of its kind anywhere in the country. We have had a tremendous response to the 18,000 temporary roles we had been seeking to fill this Christmas, with more than 110,000 applications.

“As well as its size, our recruitment of temporary workers differs from other large companies in that Royal Mail conducts a criminal records security check. We do this because of the paramount importance of protecting our customers’ mail.

“Edinburgh Mail Centre has recruited 600 temporary workers to help sort the Christmas mailbag. The majority of these temporary workers had undergone the full vetting procedure before commencing work at Royal Mail.

“On completion of the full vetting procedure, six workers were found to have failed the security check and are no longer working for Royal Mail.

[21CP]

0.o should have done the checks first before they started oh well

[MinisterofCucumber]

So RMG are allowed to access anyone's criminal record history (is this legal?) but can't get it together to access information from a third party in time for Christmas:

"Private security firm G4S and the Royal Mail can access the police national computer, the Government admitted last night.

They were among 32 organisations, including the DVLA and NHS approved to use the confidential PNC database.

The revelation that private firms can see the database will cause anger, but Home Office Minister Lord Henley said: “Authorised users can have names file-only access."

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-storie ... -23579539/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"Names File - This contains a large amount of information about people who have been convicted, cautioned or recently arrested (referred to as 'nominals' on the PNC). This includes links to fingerprints and DNA (the PNC is a text only computer so no graphical information is stored, photos that are taken whilst in custody have information relating to their location so enquiries can be made to obtain a copy of them). Nominals can be placed on the PNC as 'Wanted/Missing' if they are sought in connection with a crime, on warrant and failed to appear at court, AWOL from military service or reported missing. All recent previous arrests and convictions will appear on PNC as well as any impending offences - full disposal history is also included which will show the sentence handed-down for each offence. Numerous other items of information are also stored including all previous addresses, co-defendants, local intelligence, marks/scars and descriptions."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_National_Computer" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

RMG can already bypass the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Will they be using the wholly avoidable situation of not vetting casual staff in time for Christmas as an argument for making RMG officially exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974?

[MinisterofCucumber]

Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974

"An Act to rehabilitate offenders who have not been reconvicted of any serious offence for periods of years, to penalise the unauthorised disclosure of their previous convictions, to amend the law of defamation, and for purposes connected therewith."

"Unauthorized disclosure of spent convictions.

(2)Subject to the provisions of any order made under subsection (5) below, any person who, in the course of his official duties, has or at any time has had custody of or access to any official record or the information contained therein, shall be guilty of an offence if, knowing or having reasonable cause to suspect that any specified information he has obtained in the course of those duties is specified information, he discloses it, otherwise than in the course of those duties, to another person.

(5)The Secretary of State may by order make such provision as appears to him to be appropriate for excepting the disclosure of specified information derived from an official record from the provisions of subsection (2) above in such cases or classes of case as may be specified in the order."

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1974/53" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[AngDrone]

Pretty rich really when you consider that Angard/RM are the biggest bunch of crooks for misappropriating our salaries!