"Bomb threat" employee fairly dismissed for bringing employer into disrepute

In February 2010, Mr Tyler attempted to make a delivery in Canary Wharf but was delayed by security guards. He did not react favourably to this delay, refusing to answer their questions, sounding his van’s horn for between 20 seconds and two minutes, stating that he did not care if Canary Wharf “was blown to smithereens”, and then driving away at speed.

After the security guards called the police, Mr Tyler spent the rest of his working day in a police station, and his company van eneded up parked in a public place with a “police aware” notice with flashing lights. Rather unsurprisingly, Mr Tyler’s employer, William West Ltd, was not happy about the incident and the potential damage to its reputation, and dismissed Mr Tyler, who claimed unfair dismissal.

Although the company failed to take a statement from Mr Tyler prior to his disciplinary hearing, the tribunal found that this mistake had been cured on appeal, when Mr Tyler had been given full opportunity to present his case.

XpertHR’s tribunal reporting service provides regular summaries (and, for subscribers, PDF judgments) of interesting tribunal decisions. Last week’s other cases involve:

• a dismissal due to third-party pressure that was unfair and in breach of the “Acas code of practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures”; and
• an employee fairly dismissed following an adverse CRB disclosure against someone matching his personal details.