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.