A RAILWAY worker sacked after taking time off with depression has won more than £12,000 compensation.

Platform attendant Dale Green, 38, was dismissed from his job at Brighton Station in February after it was said he had twice been absent without leave.

At a subsequent disciplinary hearing with Connex South Central management he was severely reprimanded and given a final warning for the first absence, then dismissed for the second.

Employment law specialist Michael McDonough, who represented Mr Green at an employment tribunal hearing in Brighton, described the sacking as one of the "most callous" he had come across.

The tribunal agreed Mr Green, who had worked for the railway for ten years, had been unfairly dismissed.

He had become depressed during the summer of 1998 after being stopped from training as a driver because of a cataract in one eye.

A GP signed him off work for most of the following autumn because of his depression and gave him medicine which caused caused poor memory, panic attacks and mood swings.

Mr Green, from the Seven Dials area of Brighton, had been reprimanded for missing two days in August, but believed the two two-day periods later in the year when Connex said he was absent without leave were covered by medical certificates.

Previously, he had a good disciplinary record.

Awarding Mr Dale £12,179, the tribunal criticised Connex for dealing with the two absences at a single disciplinary hearing.

Connex South Central's David Ewart said the company planned to appeal against the decision.

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