Former footballer turned postie sacked for sticking chewing gum on lamppost wins £17k compensation

A former footballer turned postman has won more than £17,000 after he was sacked for sticking used chewing gum on a customer’s garden lamppost.

Ex-Hibs and Dundee player Graham Harvey was spotted by the homeowner who complained to his bosses, showing CCTV evidence of his “disgusting” behaviour.

He was sacked for gross misconduct after the video also showed him driving without a seatbelt and leaving his Royal Mail van unlocked.

But an employment tribunal ruled he was unfairly dismissed as none of these actions should have amounted to a sackable offence.

Harvey, now 60, was awarded £17,244.11 in compensation.

The Scottish tribunal heard Harvey was 59 and had worked for Royal Mail for 25 years when he was sacked following the incident in 2020.

He was based at its Prestonpans office near Edinburgh.

The hearing was told that in October that year, a customer visited the office to make a complaint about Harvey, claiming he had “removed a piece of chewing gum from his mouth and placed it on a gate lantern at the property”.

CCTV captured the incident and footage was e-mailed to his manager along with a photo. The customer’s email described the conduct as “disgusting”, adding he and his wife did not wish to “make a huge fuss”.On his return to work the following Monday, Jordan Cree, the delivery office manager, asked Harvey to have a word in his office.

Harvey then admitted driving without a seatbelt and leaving items of mail on his passenger seat but denied placing chewing gum on the ­customer’s premises.

The tribunal heard he was suspended pending “further investigations into an alleged
incident where you have defaced a customer’s property”.

A disciplinary meeting was held in October, when Harvey admitted all of the allegations against him.

He described it as a “stupid decision” and offered to apologise to the customer.

The tribunal heard he was sacked after bosses ruled all three offences were gross misconduct.

He then lost an appeal with another manager saying he believed the chewing gum issue was a “deliberate act on [Mr Harvey’s] part to cause anxiety and distress”.

Employment judge Ronald Mackay ruled the dismissal was unfair, as not wearing a seatbelt and leaving mail on the passenger seat were “common practices” known to management, while the chewing gum issue was not serious enough to be deemed
gross misconduct.

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