Security guard, 72, ‘marched out of work’ after 22 years
A LONG serving worker at Land Registry in Birkenhead claims he was marched out of work without warning – because of his age.
Robert Allen Ithell, a 72-year-old security guard, had been working at the Land Registry buildings for 22 years when he was unexpectedly replaced, an employment tribunal heard yesterday.
Mr Ithell, a Chubb Security employee, arrived at work at noon to find his log-in code had been disabled and the Chubb area manager was approaching him.
He had not been told that anything was amiss and had no problems doing his job.
But the Land Registry accommodation manager David Radley told him that a risk assessment had been carried out. Mr Ithell said: “Mr Radley had concluded that I was not up to the job. But I had never been inform- ed that any kind of report had been carried out, nor had I been made aware of any concerns that may have been expressed.”
He was then “marched out of the building” by Chubb area man-ager Thomas Martin who took his keys and his identity card away from him in the reception area.
Mr Ithell said: “I felt like some sort of common criminal and the experience was deeply humiliating. There were bemused Land Registry and Specter Partnership staff looking on.
“I have seen some of them since in locations around Birkenhead and they have asked me what was going on. Some of them thought I had been arrested.”
Mr Martin gave him a lift home and told him to attend a meeting the following Monday but did not explain the nature of that meeting and Mr Ithell refused.
While Mr Ithell claims to have been stunned by a decision to remove him on Friday August 10, 2007, he has discovered communications between senior staff that reveal the matter was being discussed by email.
Mr Ithell was angered these emails, obtained via the Data Protection Act, refer to his age and no-one had spoken to him about their concerns.
He asked the tribunal: “It said that a 72-year-old man was frail and infirm.
“Why mention the age? Is every 72-year-old frail and infirm?”
However, his boss Mr Martin said he had carried out a risk assessment on three days earlier.
He said: “Mr Ithell was finding it difficult to open the gym door and he told me he couldn’t see the numbers on the entry keypad but he had remembered the sequence in which he pressed the buttons.”
He also alleged Mr Ithell had trouble using the stairs and could not recognise faces, but Mr Ithell responded by challenging Mr Martin to bring in a keypad and ask him to punch in any code. His vision, the 72-year-old said, was 20/20 with glasses.
The hearing continues.
