Postman 'unfairly' sacked after thieves stole all the letters and parcels from his van

[TrueBlueTerrier]

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/p ... s-23904488

Virgil Summers, 55, from Leicester, had enjoyed a 20-year unblemished career at Royal Mail before he was sacked when his van got raided by thieves

A postman was 'unfairly' sacked by the Royal Mail when thieves stole all the letters and parcels from his van, a tribunal has ruled.

Virgil Summers had a 20-year unblemished career delivering mail tarnished when he was dismissed for gross misconduct after being accused of "failing to secure" his vehicle.

The tribunal heard when he and his delivery partner returned to the van it had been raided by thieves who stole all its contents.

Mr Summers, 55, of Leicester, was adamant he had locked the door electronically but Royal Mail launched an investigation that led to his sacking on 11 April 2020.

And a tribunal has now upheld his complaint for unfair dismissal and said the company failed to prove its allegations of negligence.

Employment Judge Peter Britton will now hold a further hearing to rule whether he can be reinstated or awarded compensation.

He said: "The claimant was adamant he locked the vehicle electronically.

"What is clear (when they went back) is that the vehicle was now insecure. The back van doors were either open or easily opened without the need for the electronic device.

"Somebody had been in the van and stolen the mail."

Mr Britton said there had been reports of a suspicious vehicle in the area with fake number plates that wasn't properly investigated that could have been responsible.

He added: "Would not it beg the question to a reasonable employer of the size of Royal Mail, and with its security element, that possibly there was a sophisticated criminal operation at work on that day in that part of Leicester?

"The police involvement in this case is to put it mildly perfunctory given the severity of loss of mail, which might include recorded delivery and could include valuables.

"The claimant gave his first explanation; namely that he was sure he used the electronic fob to lock the vehicle.

"He noticed the lights flashed the once to indicate it was locked. Most important of all, and which seems to have been missed, he said that he heard the locks click.

"There appeared, however, to be a fall back position deployed by the respondent to the effect that nevertheless he was in any event guilty of gross misconduct by not physically checking the door locks anyway.

"The respondent never undertook a sufficiently reasonable investigation to contradict the claimant when he said he did leave that vehicle secure.

"Before me he was consistent and compelling. It follows that I do not find that there was any contributory conduct by the claimant."

Mr Summers had been employed by the depot in Leicester from June 21, 1999, until his dismissal.


He has found new employment working as a waste operative but is now seeking his old job back.

Mr Britton added: "There is the respect that the job carries.

"The fact that it is recognised in our society that a postman is a very trusted individual in the community who performs frequently more than merely delivering the post.

"The significance of course being that to be dismissed for gross misconduct as in this case, and relating to what appeared to be from the disciplinary charges, wilful, deliberate disregard of security and the protection of the post whilst out delivering, is something that would obviously have substantial potential career ending implications."

He said Royal Mail would now have to show that it is "not practicable" to reinstate him or give him his old job back.

[Phantom]

And the moral of this story is? to smash a windows and make look like a break in order to protect your job from this wank employer.

[Jb1969]

Smash a window, I think not.
Have the balls to take it to an employment tribunal & win, yes!
Time & time again RM are losing these things because of the lack of incompetent managers who think they are above the law.
There reward, promotion!!

[clashcityrocker]

Smash a window, I think not.
Have the balls to take it to an employment tribunal & win, yes!
Time & time again RM are losing these things because of the lack of incompetent managers who think they are above the law.
There reward, promotion!!

How long has he been working as a dustman?
How long will it take to try and get reinstated? And that isn't a given.

I think you mean the surplus of incompetent managers.

[Woody Guthrie]

The tribunal heard when he and his delivery partner returned to the van it had been raided by thieves who stole all its contents.

So one guy gets sacked and the other presumably doesn't but who is responsible for the security and integrity of the mail?

Surely it's both because when they couldn't make the fact that he didn't lock the door stick their fall back position was that he should have manually checked the doors and there's no way you can pin that solely on the driver.

[Jb1969]

I do Clash, def.
When he returns to Court to try & get his job back RM have a choice.
A-Give him his job back + wages he has lost + a limited amount of costs or
B-Pay a larger amount of compensation which I believe is unlimited.
A Scottish lady posty did just this & won £106,000.
What does surprise me is the Managers are allowed to sack people time & time again with no real come backs.

[twoloops]

We have mismatched keys & locks, keys where the clicker doesn’t work, plain keys, welded up & patched up door posts, doors that don’t lock, doors that don’t open, Should does your keys & doors be the 1st think on the daily check?

[iHateD2Ds]

Could the thief have copied the unlock signal?
If a vehicle can be locked electronically then it can be unlocked electronically without the fob.

[Phantom]

I do Clash, def.
When he returns to Court to try & get his job back RM have a choice.
A-Give him his job back + wages he has lost + a limited amount of costs or
B-Pay a larger amount of compensation which I believe is unlimited.
A Scottish lady posty did just this & won £106,000.
What does surprise me is the Managers are allowed to sack people time & time again with no real come backs.

And all the worry and stress this could cause.

Nah, I'll smash a window.

[bishopoflove]

My son has just got his van back after it was stolen, his central locking system was bypassed and driven off, security on vans is absolutely useless and it only takes seconds to get in them, typical Royal Mail you've only got to do a bit of research and they'd realize how common place this type of crime is, its a massive problem but all there interested in is blaming somebody, they don't give a sh-t.

[NWpostie]

Bit like Horizon, blame the staff not the van seems to be the default position, we could be looking at massive historical compensation claims years down the road.