Spend-a-penny post
Royal Mail worker sacked for relieving himself in lay-by says ‘we all do it!’ – then wins £40k in compensation
HE was sacked by Royal Mail after being spotted spending a penny in public.
But yesterday postman Roo Rawal won relief of a different kind – a compensation payout of nearly £40,000.
Mr Rawal was dismissed for gross misconduct after a member of the public filmed him urinating in a lay-by.
But an employment tribunal heard that postmen routinely get caught relieving themselves, yet keep their jobs.
Mr Rawal, 42, named at least 12 colleagues who had urinated in public and not been fired, with the tribunal hearing that some had used customers’ gardens. One postman told the hearing that there was ‘not a post person alive, man or woman’, who had not been caught short and had to urinate in public.
Mr Rawal – who was once photographed with world heavyweight title- holder Anthony Joshua next to the 2012 Olympic champion’s gold postbox in Watford – had been a postman for 17 years before being fired three years ago.
A tribunal in Watford last June heard that in September 2017 his bosses received an email complaining that the sender had been ‘completely shocked’ to see a postman urinating on the side of the road in the town. They had filmed the incident on their dashcam. ‘It was really upsetting seeing someone doing that on the street... where even children can see him. We can confirm we are still distressed by this disturbing behaviour,’ the complaint said.
When confronted about the incident, Mr Rawal – who was also a health and safety officer for his union, the CWU – at first said he couldn’t remember it but later admitted he had become so desperate he could not wait until he reached a nearby supermarket to use the lavatory.
He was sacked from his £30,000-a-year job but the tribunal was told of two specific cases – one where a postie relieved himself next to a front door – where the culprits had been caught urinating on a customer’s property and had not been fired. Veteran postman Adam Hicks told the hearing such incidents happen ‘all the time’.
He said: ‘Due to the nature of their job and the lack of facilities there are instances where postman who are desperately bursting to go to the toilet, we have no option but to urinate while on duty.’
His colleague Nicholas Williams told the panel he had been caught urinating by a customer, but had not been formally disciplined.
And postman Abdulraheem Khalifah said it was ‘common knowledge’ at the depot that several postmen had been caught relieving themselves in public but had not been fired. One had urinated in a garden and received only a ‘ slapped wrist’, the tribunal heard.
The panel concluded Mr Rawal had been unfairly dismissed but rejected his claim of racial discrimination. In a judgment published yesterday, the tribunal ordered Royal Mail to pay Mr Rawal £37,720.98 – a basic award of £8068.50 plus £29,652.48 compensation. It said that, as there was no evidence that any of the other postmen caught urinating had been formally disciplined, Royal Mail should rank the offence ‘at the less serious end of the misconduct scale’.
It was ‘not uncommon’ for posties to be caught short, a matter Royal Mail should address. The tribunal concluded that the real reason for Mr Rawal’s dismissal was his poor relationship with manager Simon Maddy, caused by disputes the pair had in the postman’s role as a union rep.
‘Lack of facilities’