Lucky Phil Latham has bagged the most laid-back job in Britain – as the nation’s only SLEEPING BAG tester.
Canny Phil, 27, beat applicants from across the world to land the cushy £28,000-a-year job with Halfords.
He will spend his days lying in the zip-up camping aids, rating each one for warmth, strength and longevity.
Phil said: ”I am delighted to have got the job. I was a bit dazed when they rang and told me, especially when I heard how many people had applied.
”I have been a member of the scout movement since I was four and have a lot of experience of camping.
”My girlfriend saw the job advertised first in the papers and rang saying, ‘I have just seen a job you may be over-qualified for!’.
”Then my mum phoned and my sister, all telling me it was a job tailor-made for me so I thought I better go for it.”
Phil, of Newton Abbot, Devon, has previously worked as a freelance outdoor instructor and has a degree in outdoor leadership.
The job advert said the successful applicant ”will have to demonstrate an interest in camping” and spend five nights under canvas to test the bags.
It said previous experience was not ”strictly necessary” and the job would involve ”testing a range of bags for warmth, strength and longevity to the limit”.
Phil dropped out of sixth form but completed his degree at The University of Central Lancashire in Penrith, Cumbria, last year.
He said: ”I have had an obsession with the outdoors for as long as I can remember.’
Phil, who gets paid £600 for a five-day week, beat thousands of applicants from as far afield as Brazil, Russia, Canada and Finland.
Halford’s spokesman Paul Fensome said: ”We needed someone to give their verdict on our range of sleeping bags.
”We are delighted to have found Phil, who is very well-qualified with his personal experience of expeditions and outdoor activities.
”This is the age of peer-to-peer recommendation and the best person to talk about the merits of a sleeping bag is someone who has spent the night sleeping in it.
”Our sleeping bags do go through a rigorous testing procedure but this is all about the customer experience.
”We want to help them make the right selection. After all its about getting a good night’s sleep.”
