Palace pudding palaver

An employee at Buckingham Palace has been sacked for trying to sell a Christmas pudding present from the Queen on eBay.

16:31 17 December 2004

An employee at Buckingham Palace has been sacked for trying to sell a Christmas pudding present from the Queen on eBay.

Ben Church lost his job as property administrator at the palace when royal officials found he tried to sell one of the luxury Fortnum & Mason puddings on the internet auction site.

The Queen traditionally gives her staff the puddings as a festive gift.

The 25-year-old was not given a pudding himself as he had not been working at the palace long enough, but found one that was going spare, the Daily Mirror reported.

A palace spokeswoman confirmed a member of staff had been sacked over a Christmas pudding.

She said: "Someone was dismissed but we are not giving out further details."

An unnamed source told the newspaper that the man had been dismissed for committing a "security breach", adding: "It's really mean and petty to sack him so close to Christmas, all for the sake of a pudding."