London:
Many may find it a bit odd, but a Briton has lost his job simply because he's too fat to work.
Fifty one-year-old Barry Fowers was offered redundancy by an insurance company which was worried that he could topple over on his colleagues and hurt them, British newspaper the
Daily Express reported.
Thirty-stone Fowers, who had worked for Crestchic for 10 years and was earning 290 pounds a week, accepted the deal and is now living on 21.65 pound-a-week Jobseeker's Allowance.
But he said, despite having a sick note and suffering from angina, diabetes, back trouble and bowel syndrome, he is still classed as fit to work and cannot claim employment and support allowance worth 75 pounds a week.
Fowers in fact worked for Crestchic, a company making equipment that tests electrical power output.
He said,"I had to climb on to platforms about a metre from the ground to get to equipment and install parts. They were worried I might pass out through my diabetes or have a heart attack. The insurance people said my weight was a danger to myself and others in case I fell off a platform."
Fowers, who lives with his wife and unemployed son Peter, 29, in Staffs, said he had a heart attack when he was 30 and has been warned that another would kill him.
He added,"Because I was having a lot of time off for medical reasons, I was edged towards voluntary redundancy. I'm having to accept that I may never work again but I've paid tax
and national insurance for 34 years and I think the country should do something in return."
Crestchic has declined to comment on his case.