Case 8002178/2025 · Employment Tribunal
Mr Malcolm Brown v B&M Retail Ltd — 2026
- Case reference
- 8002178/2025
- Decision date
- 23 January 2026
- Jurisdiction
- Scotland
- Judge
- Employment Judge L Wiseman
Parties
2 namedClaimant
Mr Malcolm Brown
Respondent
Key findings
Tribunal's reasoningThe claimant presented an unfair dismissal claim on 7 September 2025 following termination of employment on 18 April 2025. The tribunal found that, after applying the early conciliation extension provisions, the deadline for presenting the claim was 6 September 2025, so the claim was one day late.
The tribunal accepted that the claimant had sought advice from Citizens Advice and ACAS and had tried to obtain legal advice, but had not fully understood how to calculate the applicable time limit. It also accepted that he found representing himself difficult, had limited resources following dismissal, and had struggled with technology, including unsuccessful attempts to submit the claim online on 31 August and the following day.
The tribunal concluded that, in light of the claimant's capability and the technological difficulties with submission, it was not reasonably practicable for him to present the claim in time. It decided the claim had been presented within such further period as was reasonable, and directed that the claim proceed to a final hearing.
Claims and outcomes
1 finding recorded| Claim type | Issue or finding | Outcome | Protected characteristic | Award |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unfair dismissal | The tribunal determined only the preliminary time limit issue. It decided the unfair dismissal claim was presented one day late, but that it was not reasonably practicable to present it in time and that it was presented within a reasonable further period. The merits of the unfair dismissal claim were not determined and the claim was allowed to proceed to a final hearing. | Other | — | — |
Legal tests applied
7 references- section 111 Employment Rights Act
- section 207B Employment Rights Act
- reasonably practicable test
- London Underground Ltd v Noel 1999 IRLR 621
- Porter v Bandridge Ltd 1978 UCR 943
- Palmer v Southend on Sea Borough Council 1984 ICR 372
- Chouafi v London United Busways Ltd 2006 EWCA Civ 689
Official outcome judgment PDF
Gov.uk primary recordThe official judgment PDF on gov.uk contains the tribunal's outcome, reasoning, and any remedy details. Where this page does not yet show extracted outcomes for every claim, use the PDF as the authoritative source.
Published on gov.uk under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
How we got this data
Case essentials (reference, date, judge, venue, country, claim categories) are extracted from the structured metadata gov.uk publishes alongside each decision. Parties and monetary figures are extracted from the judgment PDF text. Key findings and per-claim outcomes require a second extraction pass that is not yet complete for this case — until then, the primary source linked above is the authoritative record. See full methodology.
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