Amazon workers too scared to use the loo due to sacking fears

Strictly timed breaks. Warnings if you don’t meet your targets. A fear of using the toilet because of the few seconds of lost productivity it causes.

No, this isn’t a description of unregulated sweat shops in poor countries, nor is it an 18th century mill with a wicked owner. This is the reality of distribution centres in the UK, today, owned by one of the world’s largest companies – Amazon.

Staff at the centre in Staffordshire were so pressed for time they had to operate a “toilet bottle” system to avoid having to take any time away from packing products, according to author James Bloodworth – quoted in the Sun.

He worked undercover at the warehouse for his new book on low wages in Britain and was shocked by the dismal conditions faced by the workers. “People just peed in bottles because they lived in fear of being ­disciplined over ‘idle time’ and ­losing their jobs just because they needed the loo,” he explained.