Protesters looking like characters from Dickens brought a new slant to Christmas shopping in Slough on Tuesday, November 18.

They were dressed as Scrooge and Marley from A Christmas Carol. But they were actually from the GMB union, objecting to the treatment of staff at Marks and Spencer’s distribution centre in Swindon.

They stopped off at the Slough branch of the shop to make their point about the hours staff at the Swindon centre are expected to work over Christmas and the low pay the union says they have to accept.

Although the staff at Swindon are not actually employed directly by Marks and Spencer, GMB secretary Andy Newman believes the company should take responsibility.

He said: “Despite the arms-length relationship that Marks and Spencer chooses to have with these workers, this is an M&S warehouse, where M&S products are stored and dispatched to M&S stores, to be sold to M&S customers to make profits for M&S shareholders.

“The way M&S is acting the letters M&S could stands for Marley and Scrooge, the mean spirited way these workers are being treated over the Christmas period.”