Apprentice sacked for threatening colleague who ‘poked holes in his sandwiches’

A garage apprentice who threatened a colleague he thought had pranked him by “smashing his crisps” and poking “finger-sized holes through his sandwiches” was not unfairly dismissed, an employment tribunal has ruled.

Brooklyn Forrester-Hayes, 21, accused his fellow apprentice of “tampering with his lunch”, telling him he would mess up his toolbox and damage his bike unless he owned up, the tribunal was told.

Despite hearing that there was a culture of “banter” and “pranking” at the Scania truck depot, the apprentice was sacked after bosses saw the “abusive messages” he had been sending.

Mr Forrester-Hayes, who the tribunal heard dreamed of becoming a master technician at the Swedish manufacturer, took the company to an employment tribunal, claiming to have been unfairly dismissed over the incident.

But the tribunal ruled the company was entitled to conclude his behaviour had been out of line.

Mr Forrester-Hayes started working as an apprentice technician at the Scania Swindon depot in February 2020 when he was 16 years old, the Bristol Employment Tribunal heard.

The culture of “pranking” among the five apprentices at the depot included interfering with each others’ tools or toolboxes, the tribunal was told.

The apprentice was handed a final written warning in 2021, after he angrily reacted to one of his tools getting wrapped in electrical tape by a colleague, the hearing was told.

Mr Forrester-Hayes “grabbed him by the collar and held on to him” before a supervisor intervened, the tribunal was told.

Shortly after starting his shift in July 2023, he went to the tea room for a drink and found that his “lunch bag had been tampered with”, the tribunal heard.

He found his “crisps smashed, chocolate bars crushed and someone had opened his sandwich box and poked finger-sized holes through the sandwiches”.

They had also opened tea bags and sprinkled tea leaves all over his lunch bag.

Mr Forrester-Hayes said he was “upset, dismayed and angry, and now had no food until he got home”.

He threw the contents of his lunch box in the bin and then went to report the incident, the tribunal heard.

Mr Forrester-Hayes assumed the culprit was an apprentice on the early shift, and told a colleague who was in the tea room: “I am going to f*** him up for it.”

“If I see his f****** toolbox open tomorrow – I’m going to f*** everything up in there,” he added.

Mr Forrester-Hayes sent messages to everyone on the early shift, asking them if they knew who was responsible.

In a Snapchat message to an apprentice he suspected, he said: “If i find out it was u… ur toolbox is f*****.

“If it was u ur paying for my lunch if u dont ill cut ur tyre valves off… simple.”

In an exchange of messages with another colleague, he said the culprit had “f***** up all my food for tonight”.

The colleague replied: “Yeah that’s a bit much I would only do the crisps at worst… not everything.”

Mr Forrester-Hayes told the tribunal his ADHD has the effect of him “saying something impulsively”.

He said at the time he was so impulsive he did not “stop to think about the consequences of the messages to TA”.

The following day, a foreman asked all of the apprentices if they knew what had happened to the lunch.

Nobody owned up, but some mentioned the “abusive messages” the apprentice had been sending.

He was suspended, and after further investigation, he was sacked.

Mr Forrester-Hayes claimed he had been unfairly dismissed because the investigation had been inadequate, and that managers did not take his ADHD into account when making their decision.

But the tribunal ruled bosses were entitled to conclude his behaviour was unacceptable and that “dismissal was necessary to protect employees”.

His claims of unfair dismissal, damages for breach of contract, disability discrimination, failure to make reasonable adjustments and harassment related to disability failed.