A delivery driver who claims he was fired for “smelling awful” after just 48 hours on the job believes the “stink” was caused by an allergy he had to the firm’s polyester uniform and he should have been allowed to wear other clothes.
Benjamin Blake worked at Sun Water Coolers in Witney, Oxfordshire, for just one full shift before getting the boot after colleagues complained about his body odour and he was told to “buy different deodorant”.
The 29-year-old noticed a strong musky stench within minutes of starting his first delivery round but figured that he must have simply forgotten to put deodorant on that morning.
But it returned with a vengeance the next day and after asking his friends whether they had ever noticed the stink before and doing some online digging, Ben believes he is allergic to the company’s “40% polyester” uniform.
Ben, who lives with his parents in Enstone, Oxfordshire, has accused the privately owned company of pulling the trigger too quickly after he was told changing his uniform was not an option.
Sun Water Coolers has declined to comment.
“As soon as I put the top on, I just started sweating – a lot,” he told PA Real Life.
“It was just straight to the pits.
“Nobody wants to be stuck in a van with the ‘smelly guy’ and no one wants to be the ‘smelly guy’.”
Ben applied for the £11.50-an-hour delivery driver role at Sun Water Coolers in early May and after two interviews – during which there was “no mention” of his smell – he was offered the job.
He was sent out with another driver on his first day, Tuesday May 30, to get a feel for the job, but within an hour of getting in the Citroen Relay delivery van, he noticed a foul smell.
“It was on the way to my first delivery that I noticed I was starting to stink,” he said.
“I said to him [the other driver], ‘look, I do apologise, for whatever reason, I can tell I’m starting to smell.’
“It was quite a musky smell, like a strong scent of someone’s natural body odour.
“He seemed like a nice chap and his response was ‘no, no, don’t worry about it, I’m starting to sweat a little bit as well’.”
Ben was left scratching his head but just assumed he must have forgotten to put deodorant on that morning and the pair continued with their deliveries.
After getting home, he threw his uniform, a grey polo shirt and black pair of shorts, in the washing machine and made sure to pile on deodorant.
“The woman who hired me had obviously pulled this guy in at the end of the day to see how I got on, as you would expect,” he said.
“Presumably, he must have said there was issue with the smell and this could be a problem for customers moving forward.
“They were nice offices in the centre of Oxford, so they’re not going to want someone stinky coming in to change their water – it would probably put them off it if anything.”
Ben was called in to the office the next morning and asked whether the foul smell was linked to a medical or hygiene issue.
“I was completely honest with her and said I didn’t know what it was,” he said.
“I had showered that morning and made double, triple sure, that I had got plenty of deodorant on, so I was ready for my second day.”
But he had not even left the building when Ben was called back to the office.
“She said ‘look, I just followed you down the stairs and smelt it again, so I think you should really pop to the pharmacy and possibly get some different deodorant’,” explained Ben.
While sitting in the car park waiting for Boots to open at 9am, Ben started googling possible explanations for his dilemma.
“I’m like this isn’t normal, I’ve never had this before, I’ve never smelt like this before,” he said.
He even texted friends asking whether they had simply never told him he had odour issues.
“I was like, this is a bit of a random one, but when we worked together was there ever an issue with me smelling,” he said.
“Their response was universally ‘No’.”
Ben remembered that one of his shirts which contains polyester caused him to have a similar reaction in the past but not so severe.
A quick online search supported his theory, that Ben could be having a reaction to the 40% polyester uniform.
Although he was “pretty certain” this was the problem, he purchased several bottles of deodorant hoping to combat the smell.
Ben said: “I spoke to the lady at the counter and said ‘look, I’ve been told I smell, is the short and curly of it, so which of these do you recommend?'”
He then returned home and put his polo shirt on a 20-minute quick wash and then a full wash as it was not strong enough to get rid of the smell.
He explained his theory, that it was the polyester in the shirt that was causing him to sweat, when he received a call from management later that day.
“The sweat’s reacting with the material and that’s what’s causing the stink,” Ben said.
“She asked me how I was going to resolve this and move forward?”
Ben explained he needed a different shirt and asked whether there was an alternative uniform he could wear or whether he could buy similar looking garments.
“She said ‘no, we need it to be matching, you have to wear the uniform and there’s no other option’,” he said.
“‘If you can’t wear the uniform then there’s no job for you’ – that was it!
“She said ‘if you manage to resolve the issue we’d be happy to have you back’.
“But this is a biological thing, I’m not going to be able to magically fix this, short of changing the clothing that I’m wearing.”
Ben, who is between residences and currently living with his parents, broke the news that he had been fired to his girlfriend, Sophie, 28, who was shocked and said “if you smelled, I would not be with you”.
He was paid for the two days work and asked to return the uniform, which also included a shirt and jumper.
While he understands they cannot employ people who “smell awful”, Ben wishes they had been more accommodating and given him the option of wearing a different uniform.
The whole affair has made him feel paranoid.
“When I got home I was constantly having a sly whiff of myself,” he said.
An allergy to polyester, also known as textile dermatitis, can occur when skin comes into contact with certain clothing and may cause skin irritation, according to Healthline.
Synthetic clothes have also been found to smell more because they harbour more Micrococcus bacteria, which feed off compounds in sweats and generate a bad odour.
Sun Water Coolers was contacted by PA Real Life but declined to comment.
Ben is now looking for another job and has already had numerous interviews.
“I tell them straight up that I was unfortunately dismissed,” he said.
“One of the first questions is ‘what is your uniform made out of’.”
