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Tribunal orders Goddard ille:rnscP2:1 leers

30th May 2002, Page 7
30th May 2002
Page 7
Page 7, 30th May 2002 — Tribunal orders Goddard ille:rnscP2:1 leers
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

• A Barnstaple haulier has had its Operator's Licence

to pay six former drivers

An employment tribunal has dered a troubled Coventry ulier to pay 25 days' wages to former drivers for failing to nsuit them about their redunncy terms.

The men were originally 'played by WG Goddard & n's sister company, ?,derick Allen, which went into uidation in March, 2001, fing nearly £700,000.

Although they were all ered new jobs with Goddard ortly after the announce.int, the drivers have since left company.

One of the six, Michael iith, told the tribunal that the st he knew about being made dundant was when a coitgue phoned him at home. He is subsequently handed a letnotifying him of a meeting out the redundancies—but t until the meeting had .eady taken place.

Under the Trade Union ilations (Consuttation) Act 42, companies are obliged to ow a 30-day consultation nod before making 20 or re people redundant.

Another driver, Rob Taylor, ys they will each receive around £2,200 as a result of the award. "We're not dancing in the streets or gloating," he says. "We're just happy with the result and glad it's all over."

The tribunal also awarded 25 days' pay to two clerical workers who were made redundant by Allen but were not re-employed by Goddard. This will be paid by the Department of Trade and Industry.

The drivers say that they lost six weeks' back-pay and holiday pay as a result of the transfer and are now considering whether to mount a fresh legal challenge for further compensation.

Carol Undy, a director of Goddard, says all the drivers were transferred under the transfer of undertakings (TUPE) regulations and lost no pay or entitlements as a result.

"I don't understand the reason for having to compensate them when they did not lose anything at all," says Undy. You do what is best for the company and for your people under the regulations that are set out and yet the company still has to pay compensation."

Last year Goddard's Operator's Licence was revoked after Traffic Commissioner David Dixon found that neither the company nor its transport manager were of good repute (CM15-21 Nov).

This followed a Vehicle Inspectorate investigation which was triggered by a CM report that a former Allen truck had been seen running out of a factory in Coventry two months after the company had gone into liquidation.


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