David Thorne outside the Medway Messenger office

by Nicola Jordan

Former warehouseman David Thorne has spoken about his seven-year hunt for a job.

He has joined the ranks of the unemployed who believe they are being discriminated against because of their age and lack of qualifications.

Mr Thorne, 64, spoke out after reading in the Medway Messenger about Ken Roots, who has been on the dole for five years and is willing to turn his hand to anything to earn a wage rather than rely on handouts.

Mr Thorne has been trying to get regular work ever since he was made redundant by Safeway supermarket in 2006, where he worked for 20 years.
This week he was told that, despite working on and off since he was 15, he was no longer entitled to jobseekers’ allowance.

Mr Thorne said: “I’ve been told I have not paid enough national insurance in the past two years, which is a kick in the teeth having worked since I left school.”

He was so keen to highlight his plight that he walked in the snow from his home in Friston Way, Rochester, to our offices on Medway City Estate in Strood last week.

The father-of-two, who lives with his wife Sharon, said being unemployed in Medway was a “complete nightmare”.

He, like Mr Roots, left school with no qualifications and has no computer skills.

Mr Thorne said: “If you are under 25 there is lots of help. But for the older unskilled worker there is very little help, so at my age I don’t hold up much hope, and I am one of the hundreds of thousands of people in the same position.

“One of the biggest problems is being directed by the Jobcentre to go online to find a job. I don’t have a computer and have tried unsuccessfully to grasp computer skills. Another problem is they expect you to pay travel expenses for up to 90 minutes each way. On minimum wage I would be out of pocket.

“Gone are the days when the dole office would make a phone call and arrange an interview. They are not there to help you get work.

"They are only interested in making sure you have filled out the right forms to show you are actively looking for work.”

Mr Thorne left the former Temple School in Strood when he was 15 and got a job as a messenger boy on the Isle of Grain.

Mr Roots, 54, (pictured left) of Princes Street, Rochester, said he has received rejections to hundreds of jobs and hands out on average seven CVs a week. His jobseekers’ allowance has also been stopped after being told he is not trying hard enough to find employment.

Mr Roots is currently appealing against this decision.