Three Midlands-based truck drivers have been awarded a collective sum of £68,000 for unfair dismissal after losing their jobs at logistics firm Exel Europe.
However, Birmingham Employment Tribunal made the award against Coventry-based Bost Logistics, rather than Exel.
John Gumbley, Michael Smith and Andy Rowberry were all based at Exel’s Redditch depot in Worcestershire. Their job was transporting Land Rover parts to and from the Solihull plant for an Exel customer until the contract was lost to haulage firm Bost.
All three drivers told the tribunal that Exel had promised them a transfer to Bost, but when they turned up at Bost, they were told there was no work for them.
The Exel management said all three were offered alternative jobs but did not accept them. “This was regarded as a resignation by all three,” an Exel spokeswoman told Personnel Today’s sister publication, Road Transport. Gumbley, who had been employed by Exel for 12 years, accused Exel of being responsible for his dismissal.
The tribunal found that all three drivers had been unfairly dismissed, but that a transfer of employment had taken place, and Exel was dismissed from the proceedings. Instead, the tribunal ruled that Bost had been responsible for the job losses.
Smith was awarded £31,103, Gumbley £19,000, and Rowberry £17,614.
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