Okay, so Tesco is not paying their delivery drivers £17,000 to use their home toilets, unfortunately. If they were, well then sign my partner up, because I’m certain he would end up bankrupting the company.
I’m sure all delivery drivers have been there. You’ve still got a couple of deliveries to go, and you’re suddenly bursting to use the loo. What do you do when these situations arise? Especially if you work for Tesco, whose vans have tracker systems fitted meaning they can check up on you every 5 minutes or so, alongside monitoring your speed and location. Well, for one Tesco delivery worker, his solution was his home toilet. Nothing too crude here, thank you.
This week’s tale is fuelled by justice and a lovely package of £17k. Billy Fitzsimmons was rightfully awarded compensation for his unfair dismissal from a Scottish branch of Tesco. Due to his ailments, he required to use the toilet far more than your average person. An employment tribunal ordered Tesco to pay Mr Fitzsimmons for not taking his medical problems into consideration. He was penalised against for using his toilet at home, despite only stopping by between deliveries.
His boss was informed of his urinary tract infection and enlarged prostate, after it was discovered he would occasionally stop at his house to make urgent use of the toilet. It was revealed that Mr Fitzsimmons visited his home to use the loo 34 times, totalling 395 minutes in 3 months. However, Tesco bosses claimed they were not aware that Mr Fitzsimmons also experienced incontinence, although they were aware of his other illnesses. Unfortunately, he’d also had to visit home on some occasions to change.
After conducting his business at home, Mr Fitzsimmons would wait in his delivery van until he had to drop off groceries to the next client. Nothing wrong with that, right? Deliveries were always made in a timely manner, and not a single person ever made a complaint against him. Discrimination against disability isn’t a joke. Fortunately for Mr Fitzsimmons, the judges agreed with him.
Hopefully, many of you will not have faced an illness or a situation like this, but I’m sure we can relate to needing the toilet after a long drive. We wish Mr Fitzsimmons the best, and if he ever requires cheap van insurance for another role, we’re here to help!