Mr Christopher Butler v Starcross Limited trading as British Emergency Ambulance Response Service (BEARS) — 2021

Shortly before the final hearing, the claimant emailed the respondent’s solicitor stating that he had decided to cease all further activity in the matter and asked for the file to be closed and for it to be noted that he formally withdrew from the action. That development led to a postponement of the final hearing. The Employment Tribunal then emailed the claimant to confirm whether he wished to withdraw his case, but no response was received.

On 10 September 2021, Employment Judge R Lewis wrote to the claimant advising that the claim would be struck out because it was not being actively pursued. The claimant was given a time limit to show cause or object. More than a month after that time limit expired, the tribunal had still not heard from the claimant.

The tribunal concluded that the claim was no longer being actively pursued and, because of the claimant’s repeated failures to engage with the tribunal process, determined that a fair hearing was no longer possible. The judgment therefore ordered that the claimant’s claims be struck out pursuant to Rule 37(1)(d) of the Employment Tribunals Rules of Procedure 2013.