Bus supervisor wins £50k payout over Morecambe and Wise ‘stripper’ video

A bus firm supervisor has gained greater than £50,000 for unfair dismissal after busses sacked him for filming a colleague and long-time buddy performing a Morecambe and Wise-esque striptease routine at work.

Geoff Lovejoy recorded Sean McAleer dancing across the places of work of White Bus to The Stripper, a jazz piece composed by David Rose finest identified in Britain for its use by the comedy duo in an iconic breakfast time sketch.

Middle-aged cleaner Mr McAleer was videoed by his buddy of greater than 30 years enjoying with the zip of his cardigan earlier than eradicating it, tossing it to 1 facet earlier than ending up ‘sprawled out’ on Mr Lovejoy’s desk within the Windsor workplace.

The incident was captured in a 42-second video in entrance of a colleague, Michelle Hughes, who appeared ‘completely unperturbed’ by the banter; however the matter was solely raised with firm bosses months later.

Grandfather Mr Lovejoy was then fired for gross misconduct for the stripping incident and one other by which he used an organization telephone to document a tongue-in-cheek dialog he had with Mr McAleer a couple of death-in-service profit.

Geoff Lovejoy (left) videoed long-time buddy Sean McAleer (proper) performing a mock striptease at work

Mr Lovejoy (proper) was then sacked for gross misconduct for videoing his buddy (left) — in addition to for recording a non-work telephone name on an organization system

Mr Lovejoy labored as a supervisor at White Bus whereas his buddy labored as a cleaner (pictured: a White Bus car) 

The Stripper is finest identified to British audiences because the music utilized in Morecambe and Wise’s iconic breakfast sketch (above)

He took his bosses at White Bus – the buying and selling identify of CE Jeatt & Sons, a part of the Rowgate Group – to an employment tribunal, which discovered that the comedy ‘striptease’ was a ‘jovial, pre-Christmas act’ between the pair of buddies.

The listening to in Reading, Berks, was advised Mr Lovejoy was first employed as an operations supervisor for C.E. Jeatt & Sons Limited in 2017.

During a shift in December 2020, Mr Lovejoy was within the workplace with bus firm controller Ms Hughes and Mr McAleer – who labored as a cleaner.

The tribunal heard the lads have been ‘good buddies’ having identified one another for some 30 plus years and exhibited a ‘jokey relationship’ whereby they’d make enjoyable of one another and play sensible jokes.

The bus operations supervisor used his telephone to document a 42 second ‘strip dance’ carried out by the cleaner to the music after it got here on the radio, jokily describing it as ‘his (Mr McAleer’s) tune’.

Describing the clip, Employment Judge Naomi Shastri-Hurst stated that Mr McAleer could be seen ‘hovering simply within the doorway, ready for his cue, for the music to start out’.

‘In the video, the primary shot is of Mr Lovejoy’s pc display screen, exhibiting that The Stripper by Dave Rose and his orchestra is enjoying from YouTube,’ she stated.

‘Shortly after the tune begins to play, Mr McAleer enters the doorway to the workplace and proceeds to maneuver about, initially enjoying with the zip of his cardigan, and ultimately eradicating it and tossing it to the facet.

‘He strikes to the music, and finally ends up sprawled on [Mr Lovejoy’s] desk. I word that Mr McAleer seems to be smiling, trying into the telephone digital camera; he clearly understands that he’s being filmed.’

The Stripper was popularised in Eric and Ernie’s well-known 1976 BBC sketch which featured the comedians performing a dance utilizing numerous kitchen utensils and meals gadgets in time with the music.

The tribunal heard that for just a few seconds within the video, Miss Hughes could be seen within the background looking at her telephone while trying ‘unperturbed’ by the actions of her colleagues.

However, she then raised the incident six months later whereas Mr Lovejoy was underneath investigation for utilizing an organization telephone to document a dialog between himself and Mr McAleer.

She went on to accuse Mr Lovejoy of ‘goading’ and ‘grooming’ Mr McAleer, and in August 2021 he was sacked for gross misconduct.

At the tribunal, the bus operator admitted that his dismissal had been unfair and wrongful.

The listening to was advised Mr Lovejoy then obtained one other job with First Bus in February 2022, staying with the agency for eight months till it merged two of its regional companies in a transfer that will have put his workplace 150 miles away.

After one other interval of unemployment, he now works as a bus driver for one more firm.

EJ Shastri-Hurst was vital of the bus firm’s HR investigation, which was discovered to breach the ACAS code on disciplinary procedures in the way in which it dealt with Mr Lovejoy’s dismissal in a method that was ‘not less than partly, deliberate’.

White Bus, she discovered, made quite a lot of errors in the way it dealt with the case, together with not supplying Mr Lovejoy with papers on his disciplinary assembly till the assembly itself.

The assertion used to assist his sacking was additionally ‘inaccurate and unsigned’. As a outcome, the decide added an additional uplift to the overall payout — with the compensation additionally recognising the time he spent unemployed as a specialist in bus companies.

In a written judgement, she stated: ‘I settle for that [Mr Lovejoy] and Mr McAleer had a jovial, jokey relationship, and that Mr McAleer was a prepared participant within the [dancing incident].’

‘I’ve discovered that Miss Hughes was on no account affected by the incident.

‘I discover that there isn’t any culpability or blameworthiness hooked up to this behaviour.’

She additionally discovered that his use of the corporate telephone was ‘nothing out of the unusual’.

Mr Lovejoy – who now works as a bus driver for one more firm, for much less pay – was awarded a complete of £52,190 in compensation.

MailOnline has contacted Mr Lovejoy, Mr McAleer and the White Bus Company for remark.