Fired trucker awarded €32k

A truck driver who was sacked after pulling in on a motorway to take a call from The Gerry Ryan Show has been awarded €32,000 by an Employment Appeals Tribunal.

Noel Cawley, aged 39, of Thomastown, Co Kilkenny, took a case for unfair dismissal against Target Express following his dismissal in Jan 2010.

The company fired him for illegally pulling his truck into the hard shoulder of the M7 motorway, doing a U-turn on a lesser road after missing his motorway exit, and delaying his delivery by up to 24 minutes.

As a result of the call, which he took while on the motorway on Nov 19, 2009, Mr Cawley won a €2,000 holiday on the radio show.

Last January, the tribunal sitting in Kilkenny heard Mr Cawley was already on a final warning at work because of an incident in Jun 2009 involving a truck.

On that occasion, the front grille of Mr Cawley’s vehicle struck a compactor in the Dublin depot.

Mr Cawley argued the compactor was not lit well enough, that subsequently it was illuminated, and he said the warning he received on that occasion was totally “unwarranted”.

However, in the January hearing of the tribunal, Target Express’s barrister said the call from the radio show was not the reason for his dismissal, nor was there any single reason.

It emerged yesterday that, even though the ruling is not due to be made public for almost two weeks, the tribunal had ruled in favour of Mr Cawley and awarded him €32,000.

Since being dismissed at the Jan 2010 disciplinary meeting, Mr Cawley worked “stacking shelves” at Superquinn for 18 hours a week.

He had hoped to get his job back with Target Express, but it is understood that has been ruled out by the company.