Michelin bosses to hold review

The factory manager at Michelin Dundee has said he is “extremely concerned and disappointed” following the loss of an employment tribunal.

Factory production worker Stan Reid was signed off sick in February last year amid the hunt for his best friend’s 18-year-old son Ralph Smith, who had fallen from cliffs near Arbroath.

A vigil at the teenager’s family home in Whitfield saw two of his friends, Julie McCash and David Sorrie, brutally stabbed and killed by Robert Stratton, with Ralph’s body then tragically found washed ashore one month later.

Reid was sacked for gross misconduct by factory chiefs after they learned he had attended a gin festival in Glasgow. However, his treatment was ruled as “egregiously unfair” and he was awarded £29,485.45.

John Reid, factory manager at Michelin in Dundee, said bosses will conduct a review after the finding.

He said: “Providing a supportive working environment is an absolute priority for Michelin, so we are obviously extremely disappointed and concerned that the tribunal found that not to be the case in this instance.

“We take the judge’s findings very seriously and we will use them as the basis of a review of what happened in this case.

“We will also use them to inform a much wider examination of the relevant procedures we currently have in place.”