LONDON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - France is such a hopeless country where nothing works that investors should pull their money out quickly, the head of British retailer John Lewis said in an extraordinary dinner speech after his train was delayed from Paris.
"I have never been to a country more ill at ease . . . nothing works and worse, nobody cares about it," Managing Director Andy Street was quoted by the Times newspaper as telling a London audience.
A spokeswoman for John Lewis Britain's biggest department store operator confirmed that the comments attributed to Street were accurately reported but said they were intended as "tongue-in-cheek" and "not to be taken seriously".
Street, who has worked for nearly three decades at John Lewis after graduating from Oxford University, cast Europe's second largest economy as sclerotic and contrasted Paris negatively with London.
"You get on Eurostar from something I can only describe as the squalor pit of Europe, Gare du Nord, and you get off at a modern, forward-looking station (St Pancras)," he was quoted as saying.
Street said the award John Lewis was given in Paris during this week's World Retail Congress was "made of plastic and is frankly revolting".
"If I needed any further evidence of a country in decline, here it is. Every time I (see it), I shall think, God help France," he was quoted as saying. "If you've got investments in French businesses, get them out quickly."
"I have never been to a country more ill at ease . . . nothing works and worse, nobody cares about it," Managing Director Andy Street was quoted by the Times newspaper as telling a London audience.
A spokeswoman for John Lewis Britain's biggest department store operator confirmed that the comments attributed to Street were accurately reported but said they were intended as "tongue-in-cheek" and "not to be taken seriously".
Street, who has worked for nearly three decades at John Lewis after graduating from Oxford University, cast Europe's second largest economy as sclerotic and contrasted Paris negatively with London.
"You get on Eurostar from something I can only describe as the squalor pit of Europe, Gare du Nord, and you get off at a modern, forward-looking station (St Pancras)," he was quoted as saying.
Street said the award John Lewis was given in Paris during this week's World Retail Congress was "made of plastic and is frankly revolting".
"If I needed any further evidence of a country in decline, here it is. Every time I (see it), I shall think, God help France," he was quoted as saying. "If you've got investments in French businesses, get them out quickly."
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