A hardworking dad who alleges he was ‘promised the moon’ by his employer was sacked one day after finishing his apprenticeship with the company and forced to apply for Universal Credit two weeks before Christmas.
Andrew Roberts, 30, was let go with one day’s notice by Lang & Potter Ltd in Plympton, an interiors company working with clients including luxury boat builder Princess Yachts.
The 30-year-old had just completed his Level 2 bench joinery course, expecting to be taken on for Level 3 of his apprenticeship, Plymouth Live reports.
The new dad said the events were particularly heartbreaking as he’d promised the children a special Christmas after the family were homeless last year.
On December 6, Andrew was called into a meeting with bosses who told him he wouldn't be kept on and that he would have to pack up his tools and leave that same day.
Andrew says he's been a 'model employee' and doesn't know for sure why he's been let go by the firm - which specialises in interiors.
Lang & Potter declined to comment on the circumstances when contacted by Plymouth Live.
Princess Yachts has also been approached in the event of any impact on its operations.
"It was devastating," Andrew said. "I have been a model employee with no warnings, nothing at all.
"The thing that made it hurt even more is the fact we have an eight-week-old baby and it's two weeks before Christmas. I've had to go to the Jobcentre and start a Universal Credit application.
Gutted Andrew says he and partner Kelly Twining now have to use all of the money they have saved to buy their kids presents to meet bills over Christmas - which was meant to be extra special this year.
"We promised the kids a good Christmas because last year, we were homeless," Andrew explained.
Andrew and his family were living in a Travelodge toward the end of 2018 having escaped difficult domestic circumstances - before travelling 300 miles north to Andrew's parents for Christmas Day.
He's spent the last 12 months knuckling down working on his career and bringing cash home.
But now the family have endured yet another setback.
"I told my line manager, it's Christmas time, I have an eight week-old baby - he looked mortified," Andrew said.
"He said; "I'm sorry. I am so sorry." There doesn't seem to be any reason for this.
"The really bad thing about this is I was given less than a day's notice.
Andrew alleges he was 'promised the moon' when he was taken on.
"There was the promise of a full-time contract, the apprenticeship, the potential for me to to engineering and repair the tools because I am a qualified mechanic," he said.
"I'm one of the few people that loved my job - it's devastating," Andrew added.
"As far as the kids are concerned, it's put a downer on Christmas because the money we saved for it will have to be used for living expenses and paying the bills.
"There's no way otherwise of getting through January."
The news comes amid the loss of hundreds of Sitel jobs in Plymouth before Christmas as parent company John Lewis relocates jobs to the Philippines to save money.
A total of 300 workers are being laid off as the company officially makes the round of redundancies on December 20 - just five days before Christmas.
In October, employees were told that as many as 75 per cent of the work force would face losing their jobs - a figure at the time pitched at between 300 - 350 members of staff.
A spokesperson for John Lewis said previously: "We can confirm that we are reducing the scale of our operations in Plymouth.
"This is part of a wider strategy to strengthen the capacity of our in house contact centres in order to further support and serve our customers."
John Lewis has denied it is moving substantial numbers of the Plymouth jobs to the far east - but confirmed it expanded its Manila operation in March this year.
The Mirror has contacted DWP for comment.
