Geest driver wins
Page 12
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• A lorry driver sacked by Geest, Britain's largest importer of fruit and vegetables, was unfairly dismissed for refusing to break the law, an industrial tribunal decided last week.
Tony Harris, an HGV driver for 30 years, lost his job after he refused to block a road for 45 minutes as he made deliveries to a supermarket. He explained to the tribunal: "I have always kept my driving licence clean and I did not want a big black mark on it."
Geest maintained that the instruction was "reasonable", although the short stretch of road had yellow lines and three separate signs restricting parking and loading. The company claimed that a local police chief inspector had approved the practice and agreed to "turn a blind eye".
Tribunal chairman N Micklem, giving the unanimous decision, said: "When it comes to the question of ordering a man to do something that would be a breach of the law, we come to the conclusion that it was not a reasonable instruction. "It was not reason able in any circumstances for the respondent to treat the applicant's refusal to comply with the instructions as a sufficient reason for dismissing him."
He added: The police were never told that what was intended was that a large vehicle should be parked entirely blocking the slip road for a period of three quarters of an hour to an hour."
The tribunal, at Bloomsbury, London, heard that Harris, who worked at Geest's Dunmow depot in Essex for 16 years before his dismissal last October, was ordered to make occasional deliveries of pallets to the front entrance of the Presto supermarket in Hounslow, Middlesex.
He objected on the grounds that his 16-tonne lorry would block access to a multi-storey car park, and for safety reasons. After checking the company's "assurance" over the police attitude, he said an officer told him he did not have authority to block the road. He said a policeman told him: "It would be you in court and not the company you work for."
One of the restriction signs said: "Vehicles parked in this approach road will be removed without further notice". Another sign restricted loading at peak times and a third restricted daytime parking.
Harris, a former shop steward, of Good Easter, Essex, had hoped to be reinstated but the company has ruled this out.
After the hearing, Harris, represented by a full-time Transport and General Workers Union official, said: "I am happy with the tribunal's decision but I am hitter about being sacked after 16 years."
The parties are to try to reach a financial settlement between themselves, and will only return to the tribunal if unable to do so.