Shocking Account On What It's Like To Work At The Amazon Warehouse

6 March 2018, 09:02 | Updated: 6 March 2018, 20:06

James Bloodworth went undercover to work in some of Britain's most notorious low-wage jobs, such as the Amazon warehouse and as an Uber driver. His account of what goes on is truly alarming.

James describes working at the Amazon warehouse in Rugeley, Staffordshire as like a cartoonish version of George Orwell's 1984.

He explained employees were disciplined if they were off sick via a points system and reprimanded if they went to the toilet.

They were made to carry an electronic tracker with them at all times, which beeped a warning to them if they were walking too slowly as they picked up items from around the warehouse. They were walking between 10 and 12 miles every day.

James also worked as an Uber driver during his undercover work. See his findings in the video below.

James said he found working for Uber more acceptable as you could simply turn off the app when you wanted to stop working.

However, he said that they pay was low - around £7 per hour with no holiday or sick pay - and if your Uber rating fell below 4.5, then you could be banned from the app.

An Amazon spokesman told LBC: "Amazon provides a safe and positive workplace for thousands of people across the UK with competitive pay and benefits from day one. We are committed to treating every one of our associates with dignity and respect.

"We don’t recognise these allegations as an accurate portrayal of activities in our buildings.

"The scanning devices we use are common across the warehouse and logistics sector as well as in supermarkets, department stores and other businesses, and are designed to assist our people in performing their roles.

"We do not use GPS to monitor people’s location in our fulfilment centres or for any other purpose."

Hired: Six Months Undercover in Low-Wage Britain by James Bloodworth is out now.