A potato worker who was sacked after being accused of racism has won more than £13,000 compensation from his former employer.

An employment tribunal in Dundee agreed James Dawson was unfairly dismissed by Peter C Grewar (Potatoes) Ltd.

The forklift truck driver was fired by the Meigle-based company last October following a complaint. It was claimed he had verbally abused Polish workers, which he strongly denied.

He admitted there had been an incident when a colleague from Eastern Europe had accused him of swearing at her, but it had been a misunderstanding, which had been sorted out.

Dawson sued the potato firm for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination after being sacked on the spot by letter.

The potato business denied his dismissal was unfair or that he had been discriminated against. Grewar said he had no idea Dawson was disabled.

The tribunal ruled the dismissal was automatically unfair as the company failed to follow the proper procedure.

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