Sacked trader heads for the Pole

A City trader who lost his job after being one of a party who ran up a £44,000 bill on vintage wine said today that it was "no problem" and he was off on an expedition to the North Pole.

Dayananda Kumar, one of six employees of Barclays Capital who ran up the bill at Gordon Ramsay's Petrus restaurant in July last year, said: "This whole situation is particularly funny because I'm a teetotaller, so I didn't have anything to drink."

Mr Kumar, who nevertheless chipped in £9,000, added: "To be honest I'm not that bothered about it."

Speaking at his £1million flat overlooking Hyde Park, he said: "I've been on lots of expeditions since I left the bank. I went climbing on Everest, I've just come back from Kilimanjaro and I'm off to the North Pole soon. It's no real problem."

It emerged today that five of the six have lost their jobs and the enormous salaries which, with bonuses, can top a million a year.

Mr Kumar said: "I did nothing wrong. It was a private dinner and the only reason there was any issue was because it got released to the press. As far as my future is concerned there is no problem. The City is a small place and everyone knows there are only certain people who can pull in the big deals."

He added: "The biggest problem that has arisen from this is that nobody in the City is prepared to eat in restaurants any more after big deals. It's too risky."

The crowning moment in the celebration was a 1947 Chateau Petrus, one of the finest wines of the Twentieth century, at £12,300. Two other bottles of Petrus, a 1945 at £11,600 and a 1946 at £9,200, were also savoured along with a 1982 Montrachet for £1,400 and a dessert wine which cost £9,200.

Although the bank said at the time that it regarded its staff 's dining as "strictly private", it was said to be "apoplectic" about the negative publicity immediately after it had announced job losses.