Ex-town council worker asks for £166k compensation as tribunal concludes

Martin Bond claims he was sacked by the council for whistleblowing following a dispute with former clerk Robert Robinson over faulty fire alarms at the town hall.

The final session in the case took place on Friday and heard Mr Bond had been asked for a figure for his claim of unfair dismissal from the job, in which he earned £29,700 annually.

In his submissions the figure was stated as £166,244.

He said he had not managed to find employment since his dismissal - which happened just 15 weeks after he took up the position - in May 2019.

And he said he had not received any help from the town council in pursuing work - having had two requests for references ignored.

The tribunal heard Bond had been tasked with carrying out a full fire alarm assessment a week before he was dismissed.

Tony Thorndike, representing Mr Robinson and cross-examining Mr Bond said: "You had full access to the whole system and the council provided assistance if needed but he said he didn't need any.

"He carried out the inspection to a satisfactory level, there was not any question of that, and came to the conclusion that no urgent action was needed.

"Was it not the case that you thought you would be out of a job if you reported the fire alarm system to be inadequate?"

In response, Mr Bond said: "My report said the fire alarm system had been steadily failing since 2016 and that it was working at 50 per cent capacity, something that has been omitted in evidence given to this tribunal.

"There was a general disregard by the town council for members of the public who use the town hall and I felt that the committee and councillors were putting their interests above that of the people."

Asked why he had spent so much time in bringing the case - evidence of which totalled around 300 pages on his side - and whether money was a motivation, he said it was a matter of the town council having crossed the line.

He said: "I was offended and felt I had been bullied out of my position, it crossed the line of acceptable behaviour to an employee and I felt I couldn't let it go unanswered.

"I have actively pursued trying to find compensation in the form of another job to help pay for the case but not been successful so far and have received no help from my former employers."

The hearing concluded with closing submissions by both parties to be made by March 4.