Worker on sick leave sacked over video of him passing a friend a hose pipe

A cancer survivor on sick leave was spied on by private detectives and sacked when his company deemed a video of him passing a hose pipe to a friend was evidence of 'physical activity'.

Alan Jones, 55, was the fifth generation of his family to work for major north west glass production company Pilkington, joining in 1983.

An employment tribunal in Manchester ruled last year he was unfairly dismissed after being filmed wearing work boots and helping a friend water some flowers.

Father-of-three Mr Jones also won his claims for disability discrimination and breach of contract at the tribunal, which published its judgment last week.

According to court documents, an unnamed Pilkington employee reported seeing Mr Jones in a local cycle shop wearing heavy duty work boots - and a private detective firm called 'Mike India 5' was hired.

The investigators were paid £950 a day for four days in May 2019 to spy on him, the tribunal heard.

He was called in for a meeting in July, but was not told about the surveillance.

Mr Jones remained oblivious to the sting until he was handed stills from the footage at a disciplinary meeting in September, the tribunal heard.

In one video, Mr Jones is seen in a van with his friend, who was delivering potatoes to nearby houses, and can be seen holding a 'small plastic bag' which appeared to be a retail-sized bag of potatoes.

Another clip shows him and his friend in a greenhouse standing near a tap passing a hose to a farmer, who was watering flowers to be used at Mr Jones' daughter's wedding.

Speaking after the tribunal after the judgement was published, Alan, from St Helens, said: "I was just going to my friend's house. In one of the other videos I was going to the job centre.

"I was shocked when I