A homesick Caribbean builder on the site of a Four Seasons hotel development in Hampshire has been sacked for refusing to pay a £4500 phone bill.
Curtis Clark, 26, had moved from St Lucia to work as a dryliner in the UK, and was being employed by Prestige Build on a site in Dogmersfield.

Once in Britain, however, he became increasingly homesick, and installed a phone in his on-site accommodation, charging the bill to the contractor.

Clark panicked when the site management discovered the size of the bill he had accumulated and tried to flee to St Lucia by booking a flight at a local travel agent.

The escape plan was foiled by the contractor's administrators, who had retained his passport under as part of an international work permit scheme organised by the British government.

We decided to forget the bill and he has returned home to St Lucia

David Freith, Prestige Build

Clark contacted the St Lucia consulate and alleged that Prestige Build was holding him against his will.

The consulate then approached the contractor over the allegations.

Prestige Build project manager David Freith said that at no point was Clark's passport withheld from him and that he could have had it back at any point.