An ex-Swindon Greyhound employee has been awarded a settlement in the thousands after claims he was sacked for whistleblowing on the organisation.
Former deputy racing manager Kiaran O’Brien said that concerns he’d raised about possible race-fixing at the Abbey Stadium, as well as issues brought up over the welfare of greyhounds, led to his dismissal from the company.
Gaming International, who manage the Blunsdon dog racing track, argued that Mr O’Brien lost the job he’d had for over a year in July 2020 because of an ongoing personal dispute between him and the racing manager Clive Oseman, and not because of his whistleblowing.
An employment tribunal dismissed O’Brien’s case of ‘automatically unfair dismissal for making a protected disclosure’, but upheld his claims of ‘detriment at work for making a protected disclosure’, ruling he should be paid 16,867.07 in compensation.
During the tribunal, which issued its findings earlier this month following a hearing in Bristol in March, O’Brien stated that on June 10, 2020, he had raised concerns over a staff member's erratic driving of the mechanical hare which he alleged was to favour a local trainer with a family link to them.
A separate issue raised by O’Brien on June 13 involved concerns he had over the welfare of a dog he felt shouldn’t be racing. These were overruled by Oseman despite his multiple protestations and consequently, the dog in question, Newinn Buddy, ran in a race and crashed into two other greyhounds,...
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