A FORMER petrol station sales assistant has had his claim for constructive dismissal upheld by an employment tribunal.

Iqbal Vally had worked at the Furthergate Petrol Station in Blackburn for 17 years before handing in his resignation in May over a dispute about a four-week holiday he had booked to Tel Aviv.

During the tribunal, held in Manchester, Mr Vally claimed his signature had been forged on a company document.

The tribunal heard that when Mr Vally first started work at the petrol station in Accrington Road he was employed by Master Zums Limited, but that was transferred to Mercury Forecourts Limited in 2008. In August 2015 Mercury merged with Spring Petroleum to become Spring Petroleum Company Limited but the ownership of that company changed in 2016 when MRH (GB) Limited acquired a major shareholding in it.

Mr Vally’s employment transferred to Mercury then Spring Petroleum Company Limited and finally MRH. But he refused to sign any new documentation with regards to changing terms or conditions.

Mr Vally worked night shifts at Furthergate, while his manager Hanif Master worked days. That meant the two men didn’t see much of each other and communicated via text, notes or mobile phone.

The tribunal heard that during the course of his employment Mr Vally had taken holidays of more than three weeks duration and had planned to do so in 2016. But Mr Master had asked him not to do so because of a lack of cover.

But in September 2016 Mr Vally asked Mr Master if he could take a holiday of four weeks between May and June 2017.

Mr Master told Mr Vally it was too early for him to approve that holiday but the tribunal found that he did not refuse it, nor did he make any reference to the MRH policy of not permitting more than three weeks holiday to be taken at any one time.

On February 3, 2017, Mr Vally booked a four-week holiday to Tel Aviv and sent Mr Master a photograph four days later showing the original holiday request.

Mr Master forwarded Mr Vally an email from general manager Scott MacKenzie which said site managers couldn’t take more than three weeks holiday at one time. Mr Vally said this didn’t apply to him.

In March 2017 Mr Vally was sent another set of documents related to his employment but he refused to sign them as he wanted to stay on the terms and conditions of his original contract with Mercury.

The four week holiday issue was brought up again in April 2017 when Mr Master asked Mr Vally to book his remaining holiday for that year, which included the four-week entitlement he believed had been used up with the Tel Aviv trip. But Mr Master maintained that holiday had not been approved.

The issue was then discussed by Mr Vally and area manager Jonathan Marshall on May 9. Mr Vally was due to start the holiday on May 29 and by the time of his conversation with Mr Marshall it was too late for him to cancel it without losing money.

On May 11 he put in a written grievance in which he said he would cancel his holiday and work his shifts if the company paid the £1,800 cancellation fee.

In a grievance meeting on May 16 Mr Vally said under previous arrangements holiday requests were made and if nothing else was heard it was assumed the holiday was granted. As Mr Master had not said ‘no’ he assumed it had been granted in this case.

Mr Vally handed in a letter of resignation, which referred to attempts in 2010 and 2015 to change his terms of employment.

The tribunal document read: “The claimant went on to refer to discussions about his contract, and how he had received an e-mail from Jonathan Marshall on May 10, 2017, which confirmed that he had signed a Spring Petroleum contract.

He said the signature was not his, and added ‘I am significantly concerned about this fraudulent activity that has taken place and I am willing to take this to court should the issue not be resolved.”

Judge Paul Cyril Holmes upheld Mr Vally’s claim and said he was entitled to seek compensation.