A yard-worker who was sacked after being photographed sleeping on the job has been awarded almost £10,000 for unfair dismissal.

Steven Lord, 19, was fired from his £250-a-week job at Parker Building Supplies when bosses were shown a mobile phone picture of him taking a snooze in the staff canteen when he should have been working.

But an employment tribunal in Brighton yesterday ruled the Uckfield-based firm failed to follow correct procedures and ordered it to pay Mr Lord £9,266.86 compensation.

Mr Lord, of Streatfield Gardens, Heathfield, told bosses he was feeling unwell when he reported for work on August 20 last year and was told to go and lie down by his foreman Andy Aldridge, the tribunal heard.

He said: "Andy told me I did not look too good. I was expecting him to send me home but instead he suggested I go and lie down in the rest room. I declined but he was very insistent that I go and have a rest so eventually I took him up on it because I felt so bad. I had been up all night with chest pains and the moment I lay down I fell asleep."

When he awoke Mr Aldridge showed him the picture he had taken of him sleeping and said he was going to show it to manager Phil White.

He added: "I thought he was joking. He was laughing when he told me. I felt unwell for the next two days and called in sick. When I reported back on Wednesday I was called into the kitchen by Phil White and he sacked me.

"He said despite what anyone else told me I couldn't come into work and fall asleep. He said I was taking the Micky."

In a statement to the tribunal, Mr Aldridge said he thought Mr Lord was "in a bad way from the night before."

Mr Lord said: "He is implying I was out drinking but that is not true. I had one and a half glasses of wine over a meal with my girlfriend in Eastbourne but started feeling ill.

"I have been suffering chest pains for a while and work was well aware of this. I had taken time off and produced a doctor's note in the past. I was born with duplicated kidneys and have always taken my doctor's advice not to drink excessively."

Tribunal chairman Keith Bryant said the company had failed to comply with dismissal and disciplinary employment laws.

He said: "It did not set out in writing the allegation against Mr Lord and it did not offer him right to appeal, which is his legal right."

Mr Lord had been out of work since his dismissal until two weeks ago and the sum accounted for his loss of earnings.

He said: "It's not easy getting another job when you have been sacked from your previous one."

Parker Building Supplies director Stewart Pierce did not challenge Mr Lord's version of events and said he accepted the verdict of the tribunal.