Longden loses appeal
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• Manchester Industrial Tribunal has upheld the decision by Mellor Trailers to make redundant a driver who had refused to pay for his own training to take the Class I HGV driving test.
In deciding that the redundancy was neither unjust nor unreasonable, the Tribunal said it was satisfied that a management decision to employ only Class I HGV drivers had created a redundancy situation in that the company's requirement for lower class drivers, such as the driver concerned, Henry Longden, had now diminished.
It said that following the company's decision to acquire articulated vehicles, the corn pany had discussed the matter with Longden, urging him to take the necessary training course. Longden had refused to do so unless the company bore the cost, something which it had declined to do.
The tribunal accepted that the company's attitude had not been unreasonable, and that it had had no alternative employment to offer Longden.
It had been suggested that the company ought to have retained Longden to drive its rigid vehicle, but the tribunal was satisfied that was not a practical proposition in the circumstances.
The tribunal concluded that redundancy was a sufficient reason for Longden's dismissal.