Fury as no hopefuls turn up for interview

When hotelier Terrie Beardsmore advertised for the position of a night porter she did not expect to receive 200 applications.

But even more surprising was that after whittling applicants down to 18 not one turned up for interview.

Mrs Beardsmore, aged 51 who runs Dunsley Hall Hotel in Kinver, was left fuming after trawling through applications and drawing up a shortlist.

The former owner of Uptons estate agent in Kinver thinks the applicants had no intention of turning up for an interview and only applied so they could continue claiming Jobseeker's Allowance.

The Department for Work and Pensions says people on benefits would not be able to get away with playing the system long term.

Mrs Beardsmore said: "Apparently if you say you have been for interviews then you still keep your Jobseeker's Allowance.

"I would love to be on the board of the management team and strike anyone off who did not turn up for an interview. If they had no money coming in they would have to work.

"I had to go through each application and finally whittled them down to 18 so I was really angry when no-one came for an interview."

A spokesman for the DWP, Kate Rock, admitted the system could be open to abuse but it is closely scrutinised and anyone swinging the lead would not get away with it forever.

"People are not left to languish, if someone is applying for jobs but not getting interviews we would be asking questions," she said.

"They are not just left for weeks, we have in depth discussions with jobseekers and if they say they have applied for three jobs there is nothing to stop us from doing a spot check.

Mrs Beardsmore runs the hotel with her husband Wilf, 56 and son Simon aged 28.

They started the business from scratch in the recession but say it is going well and they are up 47 per cent on last year. A night porter has now been recruited who lives in the village.