West Yorkshire boss films no 'phone addicts' job advertisement

Gerard O'Shaughnessy filmed the job advertisement in his car

A business boss has made a recruitment video asking phone addicts and people with "psycho boyfriends" not to apply for the job.

Gerard O'Shaughnessy, who runs an online marketing company in West Yorkshire said staff had to have their phones locked away while working.

Mr O'Shaughnessy said he had to introduce the policy after workers kept getting distracted by their phones

"Phone addict" Rebecca Reid said the policy was "controlling".

In the job advertisement filmed in his car, Mr O'Shaughnessy said he was looking to recruit somebody who has "not got a psycho boyfriend, who rings your phone up 25 times a day and texts you a million times a day forcing you to text back. Driving you mad and driving me mad."

Mr O'Shaughnessy, who runs Business Marketing Services in Cleckheaton, described the policy as not "unreasonable" and said workers' phones were returned to them on their lunch break.

"Let's face it, it's an addiction," he said.

"It became too much of a risk for them to do it and we were constantly having to tell people to get off their phones. It was annoying me."

Speaking on the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme, freelance journalist Ms Reid said the ban was "quite controlling and patronising".

"The idea that my boss would be telling me to hand in my phone, it's like going back to school, worse than school," she said.