Gossip

Vodafone: the company with a few personalised number plates to sell

It's official: Vodafone is the high-tech company with no Chief Technology Officer, after Thomas Geitner was fired back on Monday. The company admitted it today. What it hasn't admitted, yet, is that he's the first pebble of a big avalanche. And the next bits to shake loose? - a couple of hundred 50K sports cars.

The new regime (what new regime? Surely Arun Sarin is still the boss?) has let it be known that "you can't tell a couple of thousand people they've lost their jobs, and then drive off in a Ferrari."

Your Sniffer naturally asked who drove the Ferrari. "The Ferrari!?" said our source in Newbury... "The Ferrari? - we're talking about over 200 executives, on their way out. Maseratis, Aston Martins. All handing their keys back."

Apparently, the new car policy is "nothing bigger than a five-series Beemer." Can these unfortunate senior executives claim "constructive dismissal" on this basis?

Oh, and VOD 1 and VOD2 and VOD3 number plates are to be sold off, too. It's not the right image for a serious business-oriented mobile company...