The Daily Mirror, Daily Record and Independent correct false claims about Wetherspoon
The Daily Mirror, Daily Record and Independent correct false claims about Wetherspoon
In articles dated 29 December and 30 December 2023, the Daily Mirror and Daily Record made inaccurate statements concerning Wetherspoon. Wetherspoon wrote to Reach plc, the publisher of both newspapers, which published a correction (see 1 below).
Incorrect statements also appeared in the Independent on 28 December 2023, which has published a correction too (see 2 below). This is the FIFTH correction published on this issue by the Independent since 2020.
1) Correction from the Daily Mirror and Daily Record (5 January 2024):
“A previous version of this (Daily Mirror) article reported that, during the pandemic, (Wetherspoon’s chairman) Tim Martin ‘suggested his 40,000 staff should go get jobs in supermarkets amid uncertainty, and said he wouldn’t pay staff that weren’t working during the lockdown’.
This is incorrect. In fact, Mr Martin had said that if staff were offered a job in a supermarket, he would understand if they wanted to take it. We have also been asked to clarify that Mr Martin did not tell staff they would not be paid, and that all Wetherspoon staff were paid during the lockdown. We are happy to clarify this and apologise for the error.”
2) Correction from the Independent (10 January 2024):
“This article was amended on 10 January 2024. It previously said that Mr Martin had suggested his 40,000 staff should go to work at Tesco amid pandemic uncertainty, but this was inaccurate. In fact, Mr Martin had said that if staff were offered a job in a supermarket, he would understand if they wanted to take it.
“Wetherspoon has also asked that we clarify that all its staff were paid by Wetherspoon up until the point of pub closures, after which staff received furlough pay on an uninterrupted basis, without any delay to payment. We are happy to do so.”
J D Wetherspoon plc
