Miss C Wray v Cheshire Vehicle Rentals Macclesfield Limited — 2024

Miss C Wray brought a claim against Cheshire Vehicle Rentals Macclesfield Limited saying she had been constructively dismissed on 31 May 2023 and that the dismissal was unfair. The respondent’s response said it had ceased trading, although the claimant disputed that. A previous final hearing had been postponed because there was no evidence before Employment Judge Holmes on limitation, constructive dismissal, or remedy, and the claimant was directed to serve a witness statement and documents by 15 July 2024.

By the resumed hearing on 23 October 2024, the claimant had not provided the ordered witness statement and neither party attended. The tribunal attempted contact, sent an email warning that the claim was likely to be dismissed if the claimant did not attend, and resumed the hearing after no communication was received. Employment Judge McDonald considered Rule 47 of the Employment Tribunals Rules of Procedure 2013 and noted that there was no information explaining the claimant’s absence, no medical evidence, and no application to postpone.

The tribunal also recorded that, on the evidence available, it could not determine the time-limit issue or the constructive dismissal issue. The only documents before the tribunal were the claim form, response, P45 and final payslip, which did not address the matters that would have been needed to decide the claim. The claim was therefore dismissed under Rule 47. The extracted reasons contain an internal date inconsistency about whether the claim was lodged in November 2023 or was one day late in November 2024.