'I was sacked for cig break'

Aug 27 2007 by Barry Gibson, Huddersfield Examiner

A WORKER is fuming – claiming she has been sacked for taking a cigarette break.

Dianne Robinson was caught trying to have a smoke outside Storeys Amusements on Victoria Lane just two days after the smoking ban came into force.

And the Lockwood woman had to face four disciplinary meetings alone despite having a serious stammer.

The 43-year-old said: “I had worked there for three and a half years. I think they were looking for an excuse to get rid of me because of my speech impediment.”

Dianne, who smokes 20 a day, had been able to light up inside the town centre arcade before the smoking ban came into force on July 1.

But the change assistant was caught taking an “unauthorised break” on July 3.

She said: “I was working from 3pm to 9pm without a break. At 7.30pm I went outside and was spotted holding an unlit cigarette.”

Dianne was summoned to Storey’s Amusements head office in Leeds four times in the following weeks to explain her actions.

She said: “I told them that I needed someone with me because of my speech impediment but they insisted it would have to be a union representative or work colleague.

“I’m not in the union and none of my colleagues would risk helping me.”

On her final visit to the company’s headquarters on Call Lane last Tuesday Dianne was given a letter telling her she had been dismissed.

She said: “I couldn’t believe they sacked me.”

Storeys Amusements refused to comment.