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| India-Pakistan |
| Language-row UK postmaster loses job |
| 2009-03-28 |
| A postmaster from Nottingham who refused to serve customers who could not speak English says he feels "let down" after losing his job. Sri Lankan-born Deva Kumarasiri worked at the sub post office on Sneinton Boulevard before being moved to another branch in Netherfield. He claimed non-English speakers made it difficult to do his job properly. On Thursday, Mr Kumarasiri was told by the agency that employed him that his contract would not be renewed. "I feel definitely let down because it was the 5% of the ethnic minorities who made this fuss," said Mr Kumarasiri. "They don't want integration and they are the ones that made me leave the Sneinton post office. The other 95% are suffering because of that. "People are ringing me and sending me e-mails, I have that many fan mails, all helping me out," he added. His employer, agency Newrose Personnel, was unavailable for comment. Mr Kumarasiri said he was now in negotiations with a friend who had offered a post office for him to run. Managers at the Post Office had said the service was for all and they were concerned about the impact on trade. Mr Kumarasiri's policy had also been criticised by the local Racial Equality Council and MP for Nottingham East, John Heppell. Mr Heppell said: "This was a little bit strange. What do you do with tourists? "If I was abroad and if someone refused to sell me a stamp because my French or German was not good enough, I think I would have every right to be offended and I suspect people in this country would be offended by what this man was doing." Mr Kumarasiri had told the BBC he had turned away about six customers who had wasted his time and annoyed other customers by not being able to understand English |
| Posted by:john frum |