AA faces sexism claims at tribunal Taxman revs up Formula 1 teams

DETAILS of a ‘toxic’ culture at the AA are expected to come to light this week in an employment tribunal.

Lucy Burnford, who set up Motoriety and sold a stake in the car repair app to the AA, is suing the firm for unfair dismissal and sex discrimination. The tribunal starts tomorrow in Reading.

She launched her case after being made redundant at seven months pregnant.

The entrepreneur accused directors at the breakdown firm of becoming hostile when she announced her pregnancy in February 2017 and starving Motoriety of funds. The venture went into administration the following month, wiping out Burnford’s six-figure investment.

Burnford is expected to question governance practices at the AA, which was called ‘toxic’ by its former executive chairman Bob Mackenzie, who was sacked in 2017. The AA denies the allegations.

FORMULA 1’S Britishbased teams received more money from the taxman than they paid last year.

HM Revenue & Customs gave them a net sum of £13.6 million, taking the total for the past decade to £120 million.

Seven of the ten F1 teams have factories in the UK and they received money from

HMRC after their tax bills were offset by losses. The teams are also eligible for refunds of up to 12 per cent of their research spending.

Last year, the teams made a total net loss of £60 million. Losses can be carried over to future years to reduce future tax bills. This helped Williams pay no corporation tax last year despite a £4.1 million pre-tax profit.

McLaren has £112 million of UK tax losses to carry forward from past years and Mercedes has £71 million. The £17.5 million tax credit given to Mercedes in 2014 was the largest of the past ten years.