Hospital porter whose bacon buttie row nearly led to a strike wins back job

A hospital porter whose argument over an egg-and-bacon sandwich almost caused a strike has won his job back.

Aldren Tomlinson, 45, was fired earlier this month for taking the sarnie despite telling catering staff he would pay them later after he forgot his wallet.

He had been working for 15 years at King George Hospital in east London.

In response, around 400 angry co-workers had signed a petition to re-instate him and a protest was even scheduled.

But that was called off after a dramatic U-turn by his bosses at catering company, Sodexo, who decided to give Aldren back his job.

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“I am not and have never been a thief, I wound never steal anything, I can guarantee that,” said the dad-of-three.

“It felt so bad to be called a thief, it rested heavy on my heart, it was a really dark time.

“But I had so many people in my corner to fight for me and so many of my colleagues came out to help me.

“Without them I don’t know what I would have done, they were the only thing giving me hope.

“They tell me now I can go back to work, I can’t believe it, it’s great. I can’t put into words how happy I am.

“I just want to say thank you to everyone who helped me.”

Aldren was sacked for gross misconduct by a disciplinary panel in line with its zero tolerance policy on February 7.

After being fired he said was angry and that the situation was a “nightmare”.

A spokesman for Sodexo, the French catering company, said: “We received an appeal, reviewed the situation and offered the employee reinstatement, which he has accepted.

“We look forward to seeing him back at work on Monday.”

Michael Dooley, GMB union representative for the Redbridge branch said they would make sure there were no conditions added to the reinstatement.

“They have said he will be reinstated but we still have to get confirmation to make sure there’s not going to be any catches like he gets moved to a hospital on the other side of London.”