Christmas 2016: Record 900,000 Britons to spend tomorrow working, with no rest for doctors, nurses and police officers
Research suggests an additional 42,000 people will work at some point tomorrow than did so on Christmas Day 2012
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Your support makes all the difference.As you open your presents, tuck into Turkey and inevitably fall asleep in front of the TV tomorrow, spare a thought for the estimated 900,000 Britons who will be spending their Christmas Day at work.
Research by the TUC suggests an additional 42,000 people will work at some point tomorrow than did so on the same day three years ago.
Nurses, doctors, chefs, bar staff, security guards, police officers and clergy are among those for whom the day will be like any other.
One of those is Simon, a marine engineer from Plymouth, who cannot give his full name because his ship is carrying politically sensitive material.
"The ship needs running 24/7. Three of us will be on board all week, for the engine room,” he said.
It will be the normal routine for Simon and his crewmates, starting at 8am before they eventually share a communal Christmas dinner.
"I'm not really feeling it this year to be honest," Simon said, despite having an on board Secret Santa.
Maritime Christmases run in the family, he said: "My father works at sea as well, so he spends the majority of his Christmases away too. It's part of how it is."
Meanwhile a microbiologist who did not want to give her name, was only told yesterday that she would be working on Christmas Day.
"I'm extremely angry about this," she said. "My grandmother will be having dinner with us - she's 75, and takes a lot of medication because of health problems which means she will be away home before I'm even finished work, so I won't get to see her."
Hers is a job which has to carried out, Christmas or not "because we test fresh food it has to be tested on the same day it arrives”.
"There won't be an awful lot to do on Christmas, but we are still expected to work 8:30-5 on Christmas Day while management have the day off,” she said.
But it is not all wine and roses for managers. Some, like Tash Khan, who is the managing director of the luxury florist Appleyard London, sacrifice theirChristmas Day so their employees get a break.
Mr Khan, 40, from Shoreditch, east London, said this is because people spend more time online at Christmas.
"If you send out an email on Christmas, you get twice as many people who opened the email than actually do on a normal day, I think because they're bored at home," he said.
"They look at their phone, and emails that they wouldn't normally open, they open them. You actually find that you actually do quite well on Christmas Day and Boxing Day."
Mr Khan will work a normal 9-5 before going home to his wife.
"We'd normally go to my parents, or her parents, but we won't be doing any of that - I'm going to be in the office during the day," he said. "It's not like a normal day, but it's a bit more festive. It's going to be a lot more relaxed, there might be some mince pies and mulled wine."
Additional reporting by Press Association
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