Bungled sacking award
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D. A. STUART Oil Co Ltd made every possible mistake when making one of its two drivers redundant, a Birmingham Industrial Tribunal said.
The tribunal awarded the driver, Maurice Green, £1,665.93 compensation for unfair dismissal.
They were told that the company had been hit by the recession and the number of deliveries had fallen substantially. There were two vehicles, a fivetonner normally driven by Mr Green and a 12-tonner normally driven by a Mr Ricks. Mr Green specialised in local deliveries and Mr Ricks the long-distance deliveries. Mr Green had significantly longer service than Mr Ricks.
A decision was taken by the managing director, a Mr Woodland, that they could no longer justify the use of two delivery vehicles and that it would be more economical to retain the 12-tonner.
The tribunal said it accepted that Mr Green was selected for redundancy because he was the driver of the surplus vehicle. The company had put forward a variety of reasons to show that selection had been on merit, saying that Mr Ricks was the better performer, that he was more flexible and that he was prepared to do longer runs at night.
However, Mr Woodland .admitted that the fact that Mr Green's vehicle was being sold was a significant factor in selecting Mr Green though it was supported by the other points.
The company recognised the Transport and General Workers' Union for negotiating and bar gaining purposes but it made no contact at all with the union before taking the decision to dismiss Mr Green. No attempt was made to see if Mr Green could be fitted into the company elsewhere.
The company's approach fell short in every respect of good industrial relations. The tribunal was unable to say that the result would have been the same even if proper procedures had been followed as it was the stated policy of the union that the method of selection in all redundancies should be "first in, last out" after volunteers.