Sacked for vehicle damage
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• A driver was sacked by Peter Lane Transport after his vehicle was stolen when parked near to his home overnight. Now he has been held to have been unfairly dismissed by a Birmingham Industrial Tribunal.
In adjourning the case for the compensation to be agreed by both parties, the tribunal assessed the contributory fault of the driver Leslie Taylor at 25%.
The tribunal was told that Taylor had worked at the company's Smethwick depot for 27 years and that its policy not to permit drivers to take vehicles home at night had not been followed at Smethwick.
In its decision the tribunal said it seemed that it was the non-recovery of the vehicle at the time of Taylor's dismissal, rather than the breach of rules, that was of paramount importance in the mind of depot manager Kenneth Maud.
Maud had said that he had been hoping that the vehicle would turn up and then he could suspend Taylor, rather than dismiss him.
The vehicle was recovered the day after and some £400 had to be spent on repairs. Maud had said that if the vehicle had turned up undamaged he would have probably reversed his decision.
Therefore, said the tribunal, Taylor had been punished not because he had broken company rules, and not because his vehicle had been stolen, but because while it was missing someone had damaged it. That was "astounding" and not the actions of a reasonable employer.
The company had a good disciplinary procedure, but Maud had admitted he had not followed it. Taylor was summarily dismissed without being given a chance to be represented or of answering the allegations made.
It was no good having a good disciplinary procedure if management did not use it — it turned the whole thing into a farce, said the tribunal.