SACKED MANAGER LOSES 'SPIVS' PLEA
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4. FORMER £6,000 a year area :raining manager has lost a engthy battle claiming he was infairly dismissed by the Road Transport Industry Training Board.
After a 12-day hearing, a Leeds Industrial Tribunal rejected the unfair dismissal application by Gerald Fitzpatrick, (57), formerly South Yorkshire area training manager for the Board, until his dismissal on May 6 last year.
He was sacked after a letter was sent to the director general, Eric Tindall and outside persons, in which Mr Fitzpatrick of Garforth, Leeds, referred to senior management as "a set of con men and spivs".
He also made allegations concerning irregularities over the selection of firms for exemption from the Training Board's training scheme.
He said the circumstances and conditions in which staff were expected to manage caused frustration and embarrassment at field level.
During the hearing Mr Fitzpatrick, who conducted his own case, said, "It is my contention I was unfairly dismissed and told that, as a manager in the system, I was seen to be rocking the boat after having made the protest about my superiors.
"I contend my letter was necessary in the interests of the industry I am proud to serve."
In a decision which took two hours to announce, chairman John Prophet said, "the Tribunal unanimously dismissed the application, and believed Mr Fitzpatrick's letter written on March 26 last year represented a grave vilification of senior management. On the evidence heard, his allegations in the letter were baseless and unfounded.
Not a single witness, added Mr Prophet, had confirmed the applicant's extreme views on senior management. He showed an unusual degree of sensitivity for an area manager working in the field, said the chairman.
Mr Fitzpatrick had said that before writing the letter, he had failed to penetrate senior management.
"If he was so genuinely concerned, he could have sought an interview with the