Boss sacked for pulling a sickie after being caught having a pint at airport

Bosses found a social media picture of him tucking into a burger at Gatwick Airport.

A manager who pulled a sickie to go on holiday was caught out by a picture of him drinking a pint at the airport.

Ross Collins mistakenly booked time off for a trip to Cyprus a day later than his flight was due to take off.

Realising his mistake, he concocted a plan to fake an ‘upset stomach’, as well as telling supervisors he needed to go home and check on his pregnant partner.

On the morning of the flight, Mr Collins told colleagues he ‘felt unwell’ and was seen ‘rubbing his stomach’, as well as asking other staff members for painkillers.

But his scheme unravelled when his girlfriend posted a snap of him at a Gatwick Airport bar tucking into a burger and chips and sipping on a beer.

Now Mr Collins has lost his unfair dismissal claim at a tribunal after being sacked for gross misconduct back in October 2018.

A hearing heard how he spent 12 years at STERIS Instrument Management Service and was employed as a workshop supervisor at the company’s site in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire.

The Watford tribunal heard he had booked a flight for two adults from Gatwick Airport to Larnaca on the southern coast of Cyprus, leaving at 15:25 on Thursday October 18 – but he’d only taken the following Friday off.

Mr Collins told supervisors he was ‘worried about his partner’ who was ‘in the early stages of her pregnancy and was also unwell’.

He was allowed to leave as he ‘said he was sick and that he wanted to seek medical attention for his partner’, and told another boss the time could be ‘deducted from his overtime hours’.

When the social media post was discovered ahead of his return, Mr Collins was sacked.

He admitted he have come clean about the flight but argued he had overtime to take and never questioned colleagues who ‘left work to watch a football game’.

Employment judge Stephen Bedeau said: ‘[The tribunal is] satisfied that the reason why(Mr Collins) was dismissed was that he had lied to [his employers] as to the reason for him leaving on 18 October 2018.

‘[Mr Collins] had initially booked his flight to start from 18 October 2018, the day he had not booked as holiday.

‘There was every reason to believe that because of the pressure on him and his partner to arrive at the airport in time, he left work on 18 October late morning.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.