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10 years, still no payout
Dec 9 2003
By Chris Morley, Evening Mail
A car worker who fought a one man battle to prove he was unfairly sacked after the crash of Leyland Daf is still waiting for his £20,000 compensation - nearly a decade on.
Ian Bishop was one of 1,000 people made redundant when the van making company went under, but the only one who won an industrial tribunal claim for unfair dismissal.
But LDV, which rose from the ashes of the collapsed company at its Washwood Heath plant, has denied any liability and the original receivers Arthur Andersen were broken up after major scandals last year.
Mr Bishop, of Burman Road, Shirley, clocked up 16 years service at the vehicle builder but has been left without a penny as one of the unsecured creditors of the liquidated business.
The 48-year-old's case is similar to that of Norman Love, whom the Evening Mail featured last week where he won a £27,000 award from an employment tribunal but had been left with nothing after his ex-firm called in liquidators.
Mr Bishop, now a computer engineer, claimed that LDV as the successor company through a management buyout should pay his award, even though it was not legally bound to do so.
He said: "The management that picked me out unfairly to get rid of me were the same ones who stayed on when it was bought out.
"My claim is still morally justified - it has been one of those business cover-ups. If they sacked me unfairly, they should be responsible for it."
LDV spokesman Steve Miller said: "It is clearly regrettable for anyone to go through such circumstances.
"But you cannot blame the current management because they must have been acting on behalf of Arthur Andersen which was running the business as receivers.
"If this gentlemen went through the courts to fight his redundancy, he would be fighting Arthur Andersen which was acting on behalf of Leyland Daf."
