Yell axes 1300 after a junket

Yellow Pages owner Yell held a lavish junket in Spain weeks before axeing 1300 staff.

The jamboree for its top 100 salesmen in La Manga two months ago saw them handed £1000 each after pop group Sugarbabes failed to turn up to perform.

Yell confirmed chief executive John Condron handed out the money, citing its "motivational effect" on staff. But weeks later, the firm axed 1300 jobs to save money.

The news emerged on another bloody day for the UK jobs market as firms lay of thousands of staff, and unemployment looks set to top two million and rocket to more than three million.

HBOS bankers were this week exposed revelling at a boozy £330,000 junket at a hotel in Edinburgh after an £11.5 billion bailout.

US insurance giant AIG, sponsor of Manchester United, laid on a gathering for its top executives at a luxury resort in Phoenix despite it relying on a massive government rescue package to stay afloat.