Driver is to blame
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• Renwicks Freight (Midlands) unfairly dismissed one of its drivers — but he is not entitled to compensation, a Manchester industrial tribunal has ruled.
The tribunal was told that in March 1990 driver John Bostick had asked to be taken off longdistance work, as being away four or five nights a week was causing him marital problems. Despite some inconvenience and cost Renwicks managed to find local work for Bostick, but in June 1990 he was told that the company was unable to continue offering him local work.
It was not until November that he was asked to make a long-distance run to Scotland.
oft, 6 6
When asked to make another trip involving a night away from home, he refused and asked for time off to look for another job. Bostick was told that if he took time off he would be regarded as withdrawing his labour and then told the company's manager he was "off'. When he subsequently spoke to the manager, asking if it meant he was sacked, he received a nod.
The tribunal said that although no express words of dismissal were used, the implication of the nod was that Bostick was indeed dismissed. In failing to operate its dismissal procedure at all, the company had acted unreasonably.
However, the dismissal had been brought about entirely by Bostick's own actions.