Benefits blow for Wolverhampton billboard jobseeker
Paul Hyde thought standing at the side of the road with a home-made sign, advertising himself for work would show just how much he wanted a job.
But the Job Centre stopped his unemployment benefit because he failed to prove to staff that he was actively looking for work, it has emerged.
The 52-year-old stood in Chapel Ash in Wolverhampton last October with his mobile phone number on a board and message saying 'all I want for Xmas is a job'.
Yet at the start of January he was told he had not been demonstrating that he had been applying for enough jobs to keep £71.70 a week worth of Jobseekers' Allowance. He has since provided the information the Job Centre wanted and his benefits will be reinstated next Wednesday.
Mr Hyde, of Finchfield Road West, was made redundant from Wednesfield firm Eurofast in March last year. And despite experience as a painter and decorator and sheet-metal worker, he has not worked since.
