Accident driver unfairly sacked
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• Ryland Dobson, which hauls liquid glucose and brewing sugar, unfairly dismissed a tanker driver after he was involved in a crash, an industrial tribunal has ruled.
However, the Manchester tribunal said that the driver, John Byrne, was not entitled to compensation, as he was "100% to blame" for the accident. The fact that the company had given him the wrong reasons for dismissal had made the sacking unfair.
Last June Byrne was in volved in an accident which caused considerable damage to his tractive unit and trailer. The operations manager at the company's Wigan depot carried out an inquiry into the acci dent, going to the site and examining Byrne's vehicle.
Byrne claimed that a metal coupling had rolled from behind his seat, preventing the brakes from being applied.
But investigations showed that it would be difficult for the coupling to go under the brake pedal.
At the disciplinary hearing Byrne was told that the company's insurance company would no longer cover him so he was being dismissed.
The tribunal agreed that there had been a proper disciplinary hearing.