Mr Murdo MacDonald v Mr Umar Razzaq, trading as Tay Pharmacy — 2026

The tribunal found that when Mr Murdo MacDonald started work as a pharmacy delivery driver in November 2022, the parties orally agreed at interview that he could use the delivery vehicle to commute between his home in Errol and the pharmacy. That arrangement continued in practice for nearly three years, and the later written contract signed in October 2024, which was silent on commuting use, did not displace the earlier oral term.

On 15 August 2025 Roxsanne Fitzpatrick told the claimant that, because Bertha Park was busier, the vehicle would need to be left at Tay Pharmacy from 15 September 2025. The tribunal did not accept that he had been told his employment was being terminated on four weeks' notice. It found instead that the respondent was giving notice of a change to the vehicle arrangement, and that this amounted to an anticipatory breach of the express contractual term. Given that the claimant had no car and public transport would take around 1.5 to 2 hours each way, the tribunal held that the breach was fundamental and that he resigned in response to it.

The tribunal did not need to determine the separate allegation about grievance handling. It said that, even if there had been a breach in the way the grievance was handled, the claimant had continued working until August 2025 and so had acquiesced in that matter. On remedy, the tribunal awarded a basic award of £843.75, a compensatory award reduced by 10% under section 207A of TULRCA 1992 to £5,100.75, and £400 for loss of statutory rights, giving a total award of £6,344.50. It did not quantify the pension surrender loss and recorded that no holiday pay claim was being pursued.