Georgina Lennon :: Scrooge Not Paying Workers..

UNPAID steel erector, Mark Kelly, has been left almost one thousand pounds out of pocket thanks to his scrooge of a boss, who is refusing to pay him for work already done.

Thirty-year-old Mark, form Ayrshire, has been forced to look for work elsewhere in the run up to Christmas to make sure his two-year-old nice and girlfriends daughter have prezies to open on Christmas morning.

Mark worked for John Crichton’s sub-engineering business, SCM, for six weeks but has only been paid for four.
“I know it might not sound like a lot of money,” says Mark “But at over eight pound an hour, nine hours a day, five days a week, it all adds up.”
He added: “I’ve got a young niece and my girlfriend’s daughter to buy Christmas presents for.

“I’d feel awful if I couldn’t get them anything and see their wee faces light up on Christmas morning.”
Mark is not alone, Crichton has several other workers who haven’t been paid and his response to them is ‘you can’t get what I haven’t got.’

Crichton, who has owned the Kilwinning based company with his father, John for the past thirty years, drives around in a silver C220 Mercedes Benz and lives in his cosy home in Newton Mearns while his staff are left working day to day not knowing when or if their next pay cheque will arrive.

“It’s not good enough,” blasted Mark “We’re here doing the job to pay our bills and get money for Christmas – I don’t know how John Crichton can sleep at night.”

“He’s been paying me a hundred quid here and there but I’m still owed around one thousand,” said Mark.
“I had to leave SCM at end of November when he told us he didn’t have the money to pay us and have been lucky enough to get something else.

“But in the meantime, I have to rely on my family for help to pay my rent and bills until my wage from that job comes through.”

“Some of the guys have stayed working for Crichton because they think there is a better chance they’ll get paid if they stay.”

One such worker said: “I know some of the guys have left because they haven’t been paid but I figure if I keep working, I stand a better chance of getting money.”

He continued: “There is a serious problem with money which seems to stem from the company not meeting deadlines, which in turn means he doesn’t get paid and neither do we.”

“I’m owed over a thousand pounds and coming up to Christmas I’m beginning to struggle to pay the bills let alone buy Christmas presents for my family.”

Crichton and his father have been in business since the 60s and at one time were a big successful company, winning small business awards.  The company are contracted by likes of Kelburn and Miller Homes, one of Britain’s largest privately owned companies.  And despite not having paid the staff he has at the moment, it has come to light that John Crichton is still advertising for workers in the job centre.