A hospital porter at Croydon University Hospital says he may starve to death after he was forced to take sick leave without wages because he is at high risk from Covid-19.

The porter works for outsourcing giant G4S, and "has been forced to go on sick leave because he has diabetes and therefore is high risk."

The GMB Union said it was "astonishing" that essential hospital workers can be "forced into destitution by bad bosses."

The Croydon hospital porter is now reliant on a £95 a week statutory sick pay, which he says cannot cover rent and food.

The man has shown no signs of having Covid-19, the sick leave a precautionary measure, and he has reportedly told his employers multiple times that he is desperate to go back to work.

The man is a migrant with no family support and is "worried he will die if the situation carries on for much longer," the GMB said.

Helen O’Connor, GMB Southern Regional Organiser, said: “This heartless employer gets lucrative contracts across the public sector, despite the way they treat their workers, which is nothing less than despicable. 

“It's astonishing our essential hospital workers, many of them migrants, can be forced into destitution by bad bosses 

“GMB Union has written to G4S about the issue of pay for workers unable to work due to covid-19 - but so far we’ve been completely ignored and our members are angry. 

“We call on G4S and Croydon Health Services NHS Trust to resolve issues raised by GMB Union.”