Injured driver loses his claim
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• A driver who left his job with JM Gorry & Sons in Heysham because he was ill has lost claims for redundancy and holiday pay.
A Manchester Industrial Tribunal said Class I driver Brian Ogles suffered a spine injury in January 1991 and from then was unable to work. He claimed statutory sick pay until August 1991, and made no contact with the company until the following May. In December 1992 his name was removed from the wages record without the consent or knowledge of the company's managing director. That removal was not a dismissal, in the Tribunal's view.
About May 1993 Ogles realised that he would never be sufficiently fit to return to his job with the company. He applied for retraining but was told that while he remained employed he did not qualify.
Ogles then went to see the managing director on 20 May. At that time the company needed a Class I driver and he was asked whether he intended to start work again. Ogles said that he was not fit enough and never would be. The Tribunal considered that Ogles had resigned on 20 May and had not been dismissed.
Ogles presented his holiday pay and other claims on 20 January, but these were not presented within the required three months, and therefore failed.
The Tribunal said it would only consider a claim for a redundancy payment if it found Ogles had been dismissed.