Kitcher tells The Sun to apologise to Merthyr jobless

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 29th Aug 2008

Local campaigner Amy Kitcher went live on radio today to tell The Sun newspaper that it should apologise to local jobseekers who were taken in by false job adverts meant to trick them.

The Sun, which placed 3 bogus job adverts, reported that only one person in Merthyr applied - but in fact they had more than 60 responses from people looking for work. The adverts, which were placed in local newspapers, offered to pay the minimum wage and required no previous experience.

Speaking after her appearance on BBC Radio Wales this afternoon, local campaigner Amy Kitcher said, "This is the gutter press at it's worst. The Sun should apologise to jobseekers in Merthyr who were taken in by these adverts; adverts directly aimed at tricking them.

"To trick people is bad enough, but then to rub salt in the wounds by claiming only one person in the whole town wants to find work is just despicable. The Sun should be ashamed.

"Merthyr gets enough knocks in the national press, and some rightly so, but to mock those people who are trying to find work and better their situation is unacceptable. Nothing short of a full apology will do."