A company has been cleared of unfairly sacking a worker who made a 360-mile daily round trip to a construction site in Yorkshire.
Bosses at C A Blackwell (Contracts) discovered that for a week Jim Butcher used his company van to make the journey while at the same time claiming payments for overnight stays.
Mr Butcher, who worked for the Earls Colne company as a ganger for seven years, was dismissed for gross misconduct in July 2004.
He took the company to an employment tribunal, which yesterday rejected his allegation of unfair dismissal, although tribunal chairman Brian Mitchell said the penalty had been a harsh one.
C A Blackwell (Contracts) employs between 250 and 450 people depending on the time of year.
The company carries out earthmoving and civil engineering work throughout Britain.
Mr Butcher, of Minsmere Way, Great Cornard, told the tribunal at Bury St Edmunds it became necessary to travel home from a site at Brodsworth, near Doncaster, daily after his pregnant daughter, who had previously experienced problems having another child, was taken into hospital.
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Published Tuesday, September 13, 2005
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