5:15pm Friday 11th April 2008
By Lisa Williams
Mobile phone company Orange has said it will look into claims of illegal upgrades by staff at its Sutton High Street branch.
Last week at Sutton Magistrates' Court one of the branch's former employees was convicted of handling stolen goods - and it was alleged that the practice was still going on.
Laura Roma Forster, 20, from Ashtead, admitted fraudently obtaining mobile phones from the store by logging in as a colleague and awarding herself, her family and friends illegal upgrades.
"When she went to complete a normal sale she would log in using a colleagues password and then fail to complete the sale and not register the sim card registered to the phone," said prosecutor Terry Curtis.
Forster also admitted selling on two phones to other people.
But defending her, Miss Payne said that Forster was not the only person employed by the shop who had been partaking in this activity.
"Two months into her work there, a long-standing female employee who was using illegal upgrades persuaded Miss Forster into allowing her phones to be used in illegal upgrades. It is not the most popular thing to do to report a colleague," she said.
"The girl appears to still be employed by Orange so Miss Forster finds herself still holding the baby while others are still employed by the shop," she added.
Forster will be sentenced at a later date. Meanwhile, a spokesman for Orange said they would be investigating the claims.
"We have no firm evidence to either confirm or refute the allegation made of others' possible wrongdoing at this time. We constantly review our control data for all stores, and in this instance we will re-examine our control data for this store to determine if there is any further evidence.
"If others are found to be carrying out illegal or criminal acts, they will be subjected to disciplinary measures and will remain open to potential criminal proceedings," he said.
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