Wrexham: Blind man wins £18,500 after being sacked by Village Bakery

The tribunal heard his bosses knew of his disability.

Night shift manager Kevin Jones said he soon received reports Mr Stanley was making mistakes, including crashing racks of bread into machinery, dropping loaves and not cleaning trays properly.

He was given various jobs, including measuring the temperature of bread, but had difficulty reading the thermometer.

He also had problems in using a small keypad to clock in.

The tribunal found he should have been given more time to learn the layout of the factory and other procedures.

“We concluded that giving the claimant more time to familiarise himself with the processes, the people and the factory environment would have been a practicable step that would have been effective,” said Judge Brace.

Tom Breeze, manager of the Coedpoeth bakery, said the company could not afford to employ someone especially to help Mr Stanley even on a short-term basis.

The tribunal rejected this.

The panel also rejected the argument health and safety issues were a consideration because Mr Stanley had been allowed to continue working for six weeks without a health and safety assessment.

However, in the remedy judgement, the tribunal concluded: “There was no more than a 50% chance of the claimant reaching the standard required at the end of that probationary period with adjustments and continuing in employment beyond the probationary period as extended.”