A Senior figure at one of Scunthorpe biggest employers has apologised for 'stupid' remarks he made about the town at a high profile conference.
John Baines, senior trading controller for Nisa-Today's, claimed one of the town's main industries was 'handbag theft', and was reported as saying local women wore mattresses on their backs 'in case they meet someone they know'.
He then told his audience: "If you want to know what Scunthorpe looked like in the 1970s ... go there tomorrow."
The comments were made during a speech at the 16th annual conference of the national Federation of Wholesale Distributors in Oxford.
fake rolexBut his employers at Nisa-Today's have distanced themselves from the remarks, which they said were 'stupid and ill informed' and do not reflect the view of the company.
Chief executive of Nisa-Today's, Neil Turton, said: "John Baines works for Nisa and we think what he did was stupid and we do not agree with it at all.
"Here we have one of our employers at a conference who tried to be funny. It was stupid and he was ill advised.
"It is not the company's view at all. It has utterly nothing to do with the company's view.
"We would like to place on record our apologies to the people of the town.
"We just think it was completely wrong. It was meant in humour but people do not take it like that."
Coach Boston Bag Bags ReplicaThe comments came to light after they were printed online by the Off Licence News.
Graham Holter, the publication's group editor, said he was reporting on the annual conference discussing the drinks retailing and wholesaling sectors.
He said: "The comments were intended to be funny and were taken as such. All banter really."
But Mr Baines, who has apologised to his colleagues at the Scunthorpe-based offices where he works, has extended his apology to the town's folk.
He said: "I would like to apologise wholeheartedly to the town and the people of Scunthorpe.
"The comment was made light-heartedly and I am very sorry for any offence it has caused."
Nisa-Today's has 195 people working in Scunthorpe, but only a small number of them are in the massive new development at Normanby Enterprise Park.
However, Bibby has 651 people working there in distribution for Nisa-Today's.
Mr Turton said the company had been in the town for 18 years and added: "The company is in the town because it is where we want to be.
"We have a great relationship with the town and our employees."
He stressed the company announced last month plans to invest pounds3.75-million in Scunthorpe.
And to reinforce its commitment to the town and its people, the company yesterday announced it would be making a
embroidered patches pounds250 donation to Crosby Primary School's centenary year in 2008 to help fund its celebration activities.
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