A refuse tip worker who injured another man with flying metal while working and stole from his employers was technically unfairly dismissed.

But because his sacking was entirely his fault, ex-prisoner and convicted thief Barry Barnes will not get a penny in compensation, an employment tribunal has decided.

The Leeds tribunal heard that his misconduct at council tips cost his employers, K and G Reclamation Services of Full Sutton, their contract with the City of York Council, and led to numerous complaints.

"I admit I was no angel," Mr Barnes told the tribunal.

"I did have a couple of heated discussions, heated arguments if you like, with the public, only a couple."

He added that he had driven the firm's van four or five times during working hours while banned from driving.

The Acomb man was eventually sacked following an incident at the Foss Islands household tip, in York, on June 5.

His ex-employer, Glynis Robinson, said that in a dispute with a member of the public over where metal should be put at the site, Barnes started throwing it back into the other man's trailer, hitting his arm. After confirming what had happened, she immediately sacked him over the phone.

Because he did not have a disciplinary hearing and was not given a chance to appeal, the tribunal declared he had been unfairly dismissed on procedural grounds.

But they refused to give him any compensation.

Mrs Robinson said she suspected him of stealing two mountain bikes from another tip where he worked the weekend he was sacked, because they had disappeared after he had been seen loading them on to a vehicle.

Mr Barnes claimed they were left at the tip and taken by someone else overnight.

The incidents were the latest in a series of complaints by members of the public and his employers that he was aggressive and sold items dumped by members of the public for himself.

Kevin Robinson, partner of the Full Sutton firm, described how he caught Barnes loading his firm's property on to a van driven by Bobby Small at another dump.

The Robinsons said he regularly sold their goods to Mr Small.

Mr Barnes claimed Mr Robinson agreed to sell the goods to Mr Small and that the buyer later gave him money to give to his employer.

The Robinsons said he received numerous verbal and written warnings.

Mr Barnes, who gave his address to the tribunal as Barkston Road, but to the firm as Chapelfields Road, denied receiving any written warnings.

He also denied stealing from his employers, claiming they suspected him because he had "quite a few" convictions for dishonesty and had served time.

Regarding the Foss Islands site incident, he claimed he had not known that the other man was injured and produced a letter from an eye-witness he claimed supported his story.

Mr Robinson had earlier said that the eye-witness had supported the other man's account when he contacted him as part of a council-initiated inquiry into the affair.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.