A car dealer has won a case against a former employee after he took the firm to tribunal.

Windsor man Spencer James, 30, took Online Auto Sales Ltd, trading as Tootle, to tribunal for unfair dismissal after Tootle terminated his employment when he added another car dealer – Mike Bishop, formerly of Bishop Cars.com, now trading as Black Barn Automotive Ltd, based in Hungerford – to the platform’s car dealership network, without following the correct company vetting procedure.

Mr James’ case was heard and dismissed at Victory House in Kingsway on November 22 and 23 last year, with Tootle successfully defending its decision to terminate his employment on the grounds he wrongfully added Mr Bishop to Tootle’s network.

A Tootle spokesman said: “The past 12 months have been a long period for the company and its directors and hard-working staff as we fought to defend our decision to lawfully dismiss Mr James on the grounds of gross misconduct.

“The firm has now been rightfully vindicated and with the tribunal ruling that we acted properly in both our disciplinary processes and subsequent decision to terminate Mr Spencer’s employment with us on November 16, 2017.”

Tootle says it was not able to make the decision public until now as it had to wait 60 days in case Mr James wanted to appeal the decision.