Mr Alan Robson, 43, of Wallsend, Tyne & Wear, brought the claim with the assistance of his trade union GMB and Thompsons Solicitors.

Mr Robson joined Direct Window Co in May 2000 as Installations Manager. His job consisted of organising 14 staff on a day to day basis from a busy office located in Washington, Tyne & Wear. He was also responsible for liaising closely with builders, meeting their demand for scheduled work programmes.

On 30th July 2007, Mr Robson was called into his manager’s office and told that his work was no longer good enough. He was immediately ordered to clear his desk and hand over the company car keys. Mr Robson had received no prior warning that his employer had any issues with his work, and indeed he had been given a very positive appraisal just two months before he was unfairly dismissed.

Alarmed and upset at his treatment, Mr Robson decided to bring a claim for unfair dismissal, for which he was successful. An Employment Tribunal held on 30th April 2008 found that Direct Window Co had breached its statutory obligations to follow proper disciplinary procedures and had no right simply to end Mr Robson’s employment with them.

Commenting, Mr Robson said: “Frankly, I was flabbergasted. One moment I was in a job, the next I was out of the door without any adequate explanation.”

Lee Lons, GMB officer, said: “Employers must be aware that minimum statutory procedures have to be followed when dealing with employees. Every employee should have the opportunity to present their own case, and in this instance, without proper employment procedures followed, Mr Robson was given no such chance. This was a flagrant breach of an employee’s rights and Mr Robson quite rightfully received compensation.”

Representing Mr Robson, Emily Greenshields of Thompsons Solicitors, said: “Where there are issues surrounding an employee’s capability to do their job an employer must advise the employee that this is the case and give them the opportunity to improve by setting targets and monitoring their performance. In Mr Robson’s case, he was simply fired on the spot – a bolt out of the blue which left him unemployed and angry at the way he’d been treated.”

Mr Robson is now employed by Pro-Fix Installations Ltd, based in Blaydon, doing the same job as before and managing a lot more staff.