Businesses used to run Blackpool's piers rapped for failing to pay minimum wage

The owners of the businesses did not respond to requests to set out how the failures happened

Hello and welcome to The Blackpool Lead.

Today we report on two subsidiaries of the parent company that runs Blackpool piers, who have been rapped by the government for failing to pay the minimum wage to a total of 74 workers.

The company employs a large number of seasonal workers as you’d expect, and the amount owed to each person averages out at just north of £30, which makes them far from the worst culprit on the almost 400-strong list released by the government this week.

It all comes as negotiations continue regarding the sale of Blackpool’s North Pier.

Nobody else has reported this story this week, an odd one given the amount of reporting that goes on in Blackpool, and I’d like to take the opportunity to request that you take a paid subscription to support our work. If you can’t, then it is very helpful if you share what we do.

Blackpool briefing

🚔 Three people who were arrested in Blackpool in relation to the murder of Thomas Niven, who was found dead in a wheelie bin in Coventry, have now been charged. Tammy Sturdy, 45, Camron Sturdy, 21 and Shane Turkington, aged 37 have been charged with murder. The three, all from Coventry rather than Blackpool, have been remanded in custody and appeared at Coventry Magistrates’ Court earlier this week.

🗼 Blackpool is part of the longlist if locations invited by the government to bid to be the UK’s City of Culture 2029. Blackpool Council will receive a £60,000 grant towards creating a scalable bid, ahead of making a full application this summer. If successful, Blackpool would land £10m to host a year-long celebration of arts and culture. Cllr Lynn Williams, leader of Blackpool Council, said: “Blackpool is bursting with culture and variety. We’ve just celebrated a week-long festival of circus and magic and are looking forward to welcoming the works of both Claude Monet and William Shakespeare in March - all of which is complemented by our year-round celebration of the art and culture of today and tomorrow. Our diverse culture and entertainment offer means Blackpool has something for everybody, from all age groups and backgrounds. Being named as the City of Culture 2029 would showcase the talent and creativity that we already have on our doorstep, making all our residents proud of our bold, vibrant and cultural town. To top it all off, 2029 would mark the 150th anniversary of one of Britain’s first and most loved mass arts displays – the Blackpool Illuminations.” Also in the running are Ipswich, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, Portsmouth and Sheffield. It is not necessary to technically be a city to make the list.

🚗 Blackpool Council has implemented key changes to the layout of the Aldi car park in Bispham at Holyoake Avenue. The former entrance on Holyoake Avenue has been revised to ‘Exit Only’, with vehicles now required to access the car park via the entrance near Pets at Home. The changes include: the installation of new entrance and exit signage, updated carriageway markings and adjustments to the internal Aldi car park layout These improvements were introduced following a series of concerns about safety at the Holyoake Avenue junction.

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Businesses used to run Blackpool’s piers rapped for failing to pay minimum wage

Blackpool North Pier. Credit: The Blackpool Lead

By Luke Beardsworth

The companies behind some of Blackpool’s piers have been caught short-changing their own staff — with government investigators finding dozens of workers were paid less than the legal minimum.

R S Leisure Blackpool and Northern Victoria Pier were named this week as part of 389 employers in the UK who have been ordered to repay wages owed to workers.

Both businesses are considered subsidiaries of The Blackpool Pier Company which manages Blackpool’s three piers and has a directors sheet composed entirely of members of the Sedgwick family.