Yet another tribunal 'defeat' for Avocet

EXCLUSIVE by BUSINESS STAFF

Unscrupulous ex-bosses of the insolvent Avocet Group of companies, already the recipients of a string of Employment Tribunal judgments for a range of misdemeanours, have now been served with a further demand - a £22,000 compensation award for unfair dismissal.

The latest ruling by ET judge Lesley Murphy brings to an end a remarkable campaign for justice by Tristan Jeffrey, from Wooler, Northumberland, who looked after livestock for Avocet's agricultural 'enterprise' on Harcarse Hill farm in Berwickshire. He was dismissed from the company's service in April 2020.

However, Mr Jeffrey concedes that neither he nor his colleagues are ever likely to see the tens of thousands of pounds due to them for breaches of employment law. In 2021 he was awarded £10,718 against Avocet Agritech Ltd - the latest in a series of names given to the failing business by its directors - for breach of contract of employment, unauthorised deductions of wages, and failure to pay salary on occasions.

Shortly after that initial ET judgment Agritech (respondent in the case), with a registered office at 25 Palace Street, Berwick-on-Tweed, was struck off the Register of Companies and dissolved before a so-called remedy hearing to decide on compensation could be held.

But in a very rare if not unique move, Mr Jeffrey went to court and successfully had Agritech restored to the Register in May of this year. That allowed him to make his case for an additional financial award despite the fact that all of the company's directors had by this time resigned.

Following the latest hearing at which the respondent was not present or represented, Judge Murphy decided a compensation award of £22,625 against Agritech was appropriate.

The written judgment sent to claimant and respondent, says Mr Jeffrey lodged a file of productions running to 347 pages.

The document adds: "He was greatly affected by stress arising from his relationship with the respondent and its termination. He attributes the stress to the conduct of the respondent and its officers/former officers".

According to company records, the directors of the business were Martin Frost, who also chaired the Avocet Group, and his wife Janet. Secretarial services were supplied by Eirlys Lloyd Company Services Ltd. All of the office bearers resigned in October 2021 although Companies House was not informed of the resignations until June 2023, a few days after the company was back on the register.

Judge Murphy writes: "I found the claimant attempted to give his evidence in an honest and straightforward fashion in order to assist the tribunal".

Mr Jeffrey had advised the hearing that he continued to be in 'difficult correspondence' with former directors of the respondent to this day.

The judge adds: "I accepted that although he received no medical treatment or formal diagnosis, he (Mr Jeffrey) was greatly affected by stress in the aftermath of the termination of his employment, arising from the dismissal and from matters related to employment".

The combined total of ET awards for Mr Jeffrey against Avocet now stands at £33,343 with a stipulated interest rate of 8% per annum.

Mr Jeffrey told Not Just Sheep & Rugby: "I know I will likely never receive the award; for me this draws a line under my employment fiasco that was Avocet." 

He said he would continue to "push for justice for shareholders, supporting various requests for information, in the hope the directors are made accountable for their actions".

A number of Avocet businesses are either in receivership or administration with long lists of creditors while the Frosts were declared bankrupt in October 2021.