Work-related stress is one of the biggest issues facing employers in the new
millennium. But you wouldn’t quite have picked up on that from the Daily Mail’s
coverage of the latest record-breaking pay-out last week.
The bare facts of the case are that the victim, Randy Ingram, had suffered
years of abuse in his job as a warden to the gypsy community, including being
shot at, and had received little or no support from his employers.
But for the Mail, watchdog for Middle England, only one thing was important.
Ingram comes from the travelling community. So, naturally, the paper took the
line that "The £200,000 gypsy" had won his fortune at the expense of
hardworking taxpayers.
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The paper is particularly irritated that Ingram has continued living in his
caravan while working for £8,700 a year while a site warden, and in the two and
a half years since he resigned on health grounds. Apparently he has also not
yet obtained planning permission for the field in which his home is currently
situated.
Rather reluctantly the paper did mention in passing that Ingram had been
shot at, and reported his need for counselling and medication. He should just
be thankful he wasn’t an asylum seeker or a single mum.
