Mr S Atkinson & Mr R Atkinson v Bond Freight Trading Ltd V — 2025

The tribunal found that the claimants, Mr S Atkinson and Mr R Atkinson, had not established two years' continuous service with Bond Freight Trading Ltd. Although there had been earlier discussions about a new business arrangement with Mr M Morgan, the tribunal preferred the respondent's documentation and the evidence around the November 2021 meeting and found that employment with the respondent did not begin until 2022. On that basis, the unfair dismissal claim was dismissed for failure to meet the qualifying period.

The tribunal accepted that relations broke down in late September 2023 after the respondent closed the Huntington office and the claimants were effectively shut out of the business. It accepted the claimants' evidence that they were allowed into the office to collect personal effects, that the company mobiles briefly remained active, and that a 2 October 2023 email gave informal notice and asked why they had been told by customers that they were no longer employees. The tribunal did not accept that the respondent had established grounds for immediate dismissal for gross misconduct.

On the remaining heads of claim, the tribunal found that any unpaid arrears of pay for 1 to 25 September 2023, unpaid holiday pay, and notice pay were due and owing if they had not already been paid. It held that the claimants were entitled to the statutory minimum of one week's notice on the basis of one completed year's service and no contract term to the contrary. The tribunal also said it was just and equitable to award four weeks' pay under section 38 of the Employment Act 2002 for failure to provide written statements of employment particulars, but the reasons did not set out a final quantified remedy; the parties were given liberty to apply for a remedy hearing if the sums could not be agreed.