Firings follow fire alarm

HEXHAM, England, May 4 (UPI) -- Workers at an English department store didn't find the fun in the pun when bosses set off the fire alarm to clear the store and tell them they were fired.

Store management cleared the 189-year-old Hexham, Northumberland, department store, Robbs, with a fire alarm and gathered the store's 140 employees in the parking lot where they were informed of their impending termination, The Daily Mail reported Friday.

"I understand that the alarm was sounded to gather them all in the same place, where they were given notice of redundancy," said Peter Atkinson, the Conservative Member of Parliament for Hexham.

"It is a rather brutal way of doing things, especially when you consider that many of the staff have given many years of loyal service to the store," said Atkinson.

The workers themselves expressed extreme displeasure at the method of the announcement.

"The way we've been treated is appalling and to find out in this way has infuriated a lot of people," said one worker who declined to be identified.

Store owners Owen Owen said they will close Robbs and another store in Sunderland May 12 because talks with potential buyers had fallen through.