A former business manager who was made redundant in a 'brutal manner' has been awarded £42,000 ($57,700) at an employment tribunal.
George Dolby had met owner and managing director of Stuart Plant Ltd, Stuart Sayer, for what was described as a 'catch up' at a Holiday Inn in Peterborough in 2018.
While walking through the car park, 73-year-old George was asked what he thought of his Toyota C-HR Hybrid company car, and after the employee of eight years said he liked it 'very much', he was told he'd need to return it as he was being made redundant.
After being told 'out of the blue' that he was being let go by the company - which sells generators, pumps and lighting towers - he then drove home 'very upset' and later received a letter stating he was being made redundant.
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The letter said he would be given £8,000 ($10,998) severance pay and would have to return his company car the following week.
George - who was 71 at the time - said he had to sell his family home of 35 years after he was made redundant before taking a job as a fruit packer on £8.72 ($11.99) an hour.
Stuart claimed he had tried to offer George a vacant manager's position, but this was denied by George and rejected by judge Sarah Moore.
Speaking at the tribunal, which was held remotely in Norwich, she said George was dismissed from his job in a 'brutal manner'.
According to The Mirror, she said: "What transpired in the car park was merely a brief conversation in which Mr Sayer told Mr Dolby without warning that he was being made redundant.
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"It was not a meeting, and the consultation was not truncated, it was non-existent. The dismissal was plainly unfair.
"Indeed, it is hard to conceive of a more brutal manner in which an employee's employment might be terminated."
George - who is now retired - was awarded £42,000 as compensation for the unfair dismissal.
In 2018, a leisure centre sacked an employee with Down's syndrome before inviting him to carry on working for free.
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The powers that be at the Waterfront Leisure Centre in Greenock, Inverclyde, said that they couldn't afford to pay the wages of 47-year-old Ronnie Hawthorn, but said that he could keep on doing his cleaning job for free if he really wanted to.
They sweetened the deal by saying that he could continue to attend staff nights out with his former colleagues.
This caused a pretty significant backlash from the public, according to the Daily Record, and management subsequently U-turned, claiming it was a 'misunderstanding'.
Featured Image Credit: Stuart Group