Family connection halts tribunal
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• An employment tribunal hearing the case of a driver claiming unfair dismissal from Sheddick Transport has been stopped after the applicant revealed his mother was the court clerk.
Anthony Jones, formerly a night driver with the Newportbased haulier, claims he was unfairly dismissed by the company last year.
The company alleges that Jones and other employees who were also sacked had been stealing a variety of goods, mainly disposable nappies, from loaded trailers parked in the company's yard.
Sheddick Transport personnel manager Montgomery Lloyd told the hearing that Jones was dismissed by phone without a disciplinary interview after being caught on a hidden camera opening up a parked trailer and look ing inside. "We thought that the offence was proven and that there was no way he could deny it,he explained. "Before last Christmas we were suffering theft from trailers. Disposable nappies were being taken.
Lloyd told the hearing that the company carried 30 loads per week between the manufacturers in Manchester, its depot and supermarket warehouses.
Uoyd said the company had begun sealing the trailers to establish where in the supply chain the thefts were occurring.
"We contacted the police and they installed a surveillance camera in a trailer we
no longer use," he added. "Initially we could see the thefts were going on. but we couldn't identify individuals."
The tribunal was shown video footage of Jones and another driver opening up a curtain-sided trailer and looking inside.
The police later raided the houses of all Sheddick night drivers; Jones was subsequently arrested when he arrived for work. The case went to court, but the Crown Prosecution Service did not pursue it.
Jones denied being involved in theft from the trailers, but just as he was about to give evidence he revealed that he was related to one of the tribunal office staff.
Tribunal chairman Guy Prichard said there were dangers in hearing the case in Cardiff and transferred it to Bristol on a date to be fixed.