in brief

Tipper truck protest

Union activists parked a giant tipper truck outside the Sanderson hotel in London on Tuesday (11 December) to protest against the hotel's policy of using tips to top up basic pay below the minimum wage.

The GMB union's London hotel and leisure section plans to park the tipper truck outside other hotels and restaurants that use the tronc wage system. The union said: "The practice of making tips part of staffs' wages is not illegal but is inexcusable. We will use the truck to demonstrate against poverty pay and show customers that they are paying twice for the same good service."

Weapons charge

A London chef arrested in October under the Terrorism Act has been committed for trial at the Central Criminal Court on 4 January, when he will indicate how he will plead. Sulayman Balal Zainulabidin, who worked at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in Regent's Park, faces charges of instructing others how to make or use weapons (Caterer, 11 October, page 4).

De Vere in the drink

Hotel group De Vere last week posted a rise in operating profit for the year to 30 September but saw it wiped out by an exceptional cost of £49.1m from the disposal of its Tavern wholesale drinks business. The company made a pre-tax loss of £18.1m despite turnover going up 17.7% to £273.8m.