Mike Ashley pens open letter after ‘ill-judged’ coronavirus calls

Will Ford

Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley has apologised for “ill-judged and poorly timed” emails to Government in the midst of the coronavirus crisis.

In an open letter, the Newcastle owner revealed he has offered the company’s “entire fleet of lorries” to the NHS to help with deliveries during the pandemic.

The businessman was fiercely criticised after he made the ridiculous claim that Sports Direct was essential, before doing a U-turn and closing his stores.

The letter read: “Our intentions were only to seek clarity from the Government as to whether we should keep some of our stores open; we would never have acted against their advice.

“In hindsight, our emails to the Government were ill-judged and poorly timed, when they clearly had much greater pressures than ours to deal with.

“On top of this, our communications to our employees and the public on this was poor.

“To reiterate, I am deeply apologetic about the misunderstandings of the last few days. We will learn from this and will try not to make the same mistakes in the future.”

OPINION: Cartoon villain Ashley hits rock bottom, starts to excavate

Ashley had provoked fury on Monday when Sports Direct emailed all employees within 30 minutes of the Government’s decision to shut down all non-essential retailers to inform them their stores would remain open for business.

They then pushed up the prices – particularly of home gym equipment – by as much as 50 per cent.

The company is still ignoring government guidelines by forcing warehouse workers to continue work amid the ongoing pandemic.

And the Unite union claim that some workers with underlying health conditions have been threatened with dismissal if they attempt to self isolate.

 

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