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A 22-year old Blackpool woman has won more than £20,000 in damages after she was sacked after suffering a stroke.

Hayley Tudor was awarded £20,352 by Manchester Employment tribunal after she was dismissed from her job as an animal nursing assistant following a stroke in May 2005. She lost her sight the next month as a result of the stroke.

In July, she told her employers, Spen Corner Veterinary Surgery, she was out of hospital and could resume work, but was told she had already been sacked.

She brought a claim against the surgery under Part Two of the Disability Discrimination Act, claiming that as a receptionist she could have continued her duties if the company had made reasonable adjustments for her.

Bert Massie, chairman of the Disability Rights Commission, said the case made clear that if employers made assumptions about disabled people and their ability to work, or failed to consider what adjustments could be made to enable disabled people to work, they would be acting unlawfully.