Firefighter sacked for throwing disabled blogger’s phone was unfairly dismissed

A firefighter who blamed his PTSD for snatching a disabled YouTuber’s phone and chucking it over a hedge has won an unfair dismissal case against his former employer.

John Linden was sacked as chief of King’s Lynn fire station in Norfolk following an altercation with Jimmy Evans who uses a mobility scooter, at the scene of a fire in June 2023.

An employment tribunal heard he approached Mr Evans and warned him not to get any closer to the fire due to the safety risk.

Mr Linden said Mr Evans, 46, refused, ‘became aggressive’ and started swinging his arm.

He claimed his ‘split-second’ reaction was to deflect the man’s arm and that this caused the phone to be lost.

In footage filmed from Mr Evans’ scooter, the blogger can be heard shouting: ‘Get off my phone! Give me my phone!’

Mr Linden is then seen walking away and appears to throw an object in a rapid motion over the hedge as Mr Evans gets up and attempts to follow him.

An ensuing investigation and a disciplinary hearing resulted in Mr Linden, who had served for 32 years, being fired for misconduct.

Norfolk Fire Service bought a replacement phone for Mr Evans, who had been unable to find his original device in the undergrowth.

Mr Linden challenged the decision, making four complaints including one that he had been unfairly sacked due to ‘failures’ in the service’s procedures.

He argued he was discriminated on account of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) brought on by childhood physical abuse and incidents he dealt with while working as a firefighter.

The tribunal heard his condition caused him to react in a ‘heightened manner’ towards Mr Evans, who describes himself online as an ‘auditor’, a term used by bloggers who film public servants and other workers in their work.

Mr Linden also claimed Mr Evans had been known to harass his staff in the past and had a tendency to be confrontational, though the blogger denied this and said he had a good relationship with the service.

Mr Evans said of the firefighter: ‘I don’t feel that his PTSD has anything to do with what happened that day.

‘Yes, he may have PTSD from a number of different types of incidents and I agree with that.

‘But I don’t think that’s the reason why he kicked off at me.

‘I never wanted the guy fired, I just wanted an apology from him.

‘All of this was about the fact he took my phone without my consent and threw it into a bush.’

Gus Baker, the barrister representing Norfolk Fire Service, argued Mr Linden’s reaction was not driven by his PTSD and that anyone watching the video would his version of events ‘incredible and incapable of belief’.

Mr Baker said: ‘You snatched his phone while he was responding to you.’

Employemnt Judge Spencer dismissed Mr Linden’s claim that he was discriminated against on the basis of his PTSD, and two of his other complaints.

But the ruled in favour of his unfair dismissal claim on the basis of ‘troubling’ issues with how the service handled the case

These were said to include an email from Norfolk’s chief fire officer telling investigators not to interview key witnesses, including Mr Evans.

The judge said: ‘There are so many procedural failures in this case that the procedure followed by the respondent is outside the band of reasonable responses.

‘The dismissal was unfair on procedural grounds. The complaint of unfair dismissal succeeds on these grounds.’

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