Whistle-blower warden gets £20,000 but not his job back

 
Hakim Berkani: blew the whistle on secret quotas
10 April 2012

A parking warden who blew the whistle on secret quotas to issue a minimum number of tickets has been awarded £20,000 for unfair dismissal.

Hakim Berkani, 44, was hailed a hero after revealing that wardens were forced to issue 10 tickets a day. But he was told today that although he wants his old job back, that would return him to "the lions' den".

Details of the Kensington and Chelsea quota policy emerged at an earlier employment tribunal hearing that ruled Mr Berkani was wrongly sacked for opposing contractor NSL, which has deals in boroughs across London. Tribunal judge Jeremy Burns found that Mr Berkani was fired for his "opposition to the respondent's clandestine quota system" and his GMB trade union activities.

But if Mr Berkani was reinstated, the managers he was in conflict with would still be his supervisors, said Mr Burns. "They would still have their daggers drawn." The contractor, which has repeatedly denied the existence of a secret quota, said "trust and confidence" between the parties had "broken down to the core" and rehiring the father of two from Wandsworth would be an "untenable situation".

NSL's head of human resources, Janet Daley, refused to answer questions about whether the contractor still operated a secret quota system.

But Mr Berkani claimed the company did not want him back because a quota system remained in place. "I applied for many jobs with other contractors and local councils but never got a reply," he said. "I was blacklisted."

He told the tribunal he had applied without success for more than 200 jobs since being sacked last February, following three years in the job.

"I will work anywhere, I am just desperate for a job," he said. "I wanted to do a duty for the public. That dream job was taken away."

He was fired after tipping off a driver set to be given a ticket by another warden. Mr Burns said Mr Berkani only issued tickets as "a last resort", that managers felt "under pressure" and "passed this pressure" to wardens. The tribunal found that three NSL bosses - Andrew Davison, Stephen Rowlands and Andy Dunbar - had tried to "frame" Mr Berkani on trumped-up charges.

After the hearing Mr Berkani said: "I'm very disappointed. I believe justice has not been done. My job was worth more to me than any amount of money."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in