A six-foot-seven man is locked in a legal battle with his employer over whether his back injury was caused by sitting at his desk, or by living in a Ford Focus for five days.
Gareth Judd was sacked in June this year by employment agency Adecco as he was too ill to work in his post at Barclays’ Doxford International call centre in Sunderland.
The 24-year-old is suing Barclays bosses for compensation, saying his prolapsed disc was a result of unsuitable office furniture.
But it has been claimed his injury may have been caused by an endurance competition that saw him spend five days in a Ford Focus car in a doomed bid to win the £13,000 car.
Judd, from Church Vale near Durham, told the Sunderland Echo: “It is ridiculous to suggest I got my back problems from the competition. The whole thing has been a nightmare.”
Barclays has declined to comment for legal reasons.
