Wronged 'wrong truck' driver
Page 12
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• A lorry driver sacked after he deliberately took out a vehicle he was instructed he was not to take out has been awarded £2,238 compensation for unfair dismissal by a Leicester industrial tribunal.
In calculating the compensation the tribunal held that the driver, Roger Alton, was 25% to blame.
The tribunal said that Alton had been employed as a Class 1 driver by R F Brookes Limited and that he had been regarded as a good driver with no previous disciplinary matters on his record.
In February he was due to take a vehicle to Rugby and Hemel Hempstead which would involve him travelling in the dark during the coldest February for many years.
He was concerned about the state of the battery of the Seddon Atkinson he had been allocated and instead he attached a Volvo tractive unit to the trailer. When he told the transport supervisor what he had done, he was told to change the vehicle back, as the Volvo was required for other purposes.
He refused to do so because of his doubts about the battery and because of the time it would take to change the vehicles. Consequently he took the Volvo without reference to anyone else in the transport management team.
The tribunal could not accept that the company was reasonable in regarding what had happened as an act of gross misconduct justifying instant dismissal.
It accepted that it was misconduct, but believed that the company had over-reacted to the situation.