A bus driver who was sacked after he was elected to Bradford Council as a candidate for the British National Party (BNP) in 2004 has won the human rights case he took to the European Court of Human Rights.
Arthur Redfearn was dismissed by his employer, after only six months, once he won the seat on Bradford Council, as his employer said it feared for the safety of passengers and vehicles in his care.
At the time, Mr Redfearn lodged a claim of race discrimination against his employer, which was dismissed by an employment tribunal, which found that any discrimination against him had been on the grounds of health and safety. The tribunal found there was a risk that opponents of the BNP could attack vehicles and that passengers could be made anxious.
However, Mr Redfearn successfully appealed against the decision in 2005 after an appeal tribunal heard that no consideration had been given to any alternatives other than dismissal.
But then in 2006, his employer appealed and won their case, as the Court of Appeal found that Mr Redfearn’s complaint was of discrimination on political and not racial grounds, which fell outside anti-discrimination laws.
Mr Redfearn wanted to take his case to the House of Lords but was refused, so pursued it to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, who found that the sacking breached his rights to freedom of association, meaning that he had been sacked because of his membership of a political party.
The judgement noted that Mr Redfearn had been “summarily dismissed” following complaints about problems that had never actually occurred and that prior to his political affiliation becoming public knowledge, no service users or colleagues had complained about him.