A quarter of Dundee’s community safety wardens faced disciplinary action for false timekeeping and one of them was sacked.
William Couttie claimed unfair dismissal but an employment tribunal has found the city council was right to show him the door.
The wardens patrol communities in the afternoons and evenings but complaints were received that they were taking longer than their permitted 15 minutes for “comfort stops”.
According to one witness, they were taking refuge in a building in Douglas for up to two hours when they should have been out dealing with youth disturbances, graffiti and vandalism.
The wardens are allowed 15 minute “comfort stops” in designated buildings to enter details of incidents in their notebooks.
They cannot do this out on patrol, especially if the weather is bad, but they have to telephone their superior when they start and stop their “comfort stops”.
In March last year, the council received a complaint from Profile Security about the length of time wardens were spending in the Balmerino Road social work building which they used.
The wardens in general, and Mr Couttie and a colleague in particular, were spending so long there cleaners could not clean the canteen.
Later that month a neighbour complained that the wardens visited the building for over two hours at a time and, as a taxpayer, she found this unacceptable.
Wardens co-ordinator Chris Muir investigated nine of the 28 personnel. He learned of a case in May when Mr Couttie and another colleague failed to respond to an incident when instructed.
Then, in June, it was discovered footage from a body-worn camera had been left on accidentally in the social work building. This ran for 44 minutes and it showed
wardens, including Mr Couttie, taking a break of more than 15 minutes. One of Mr Couttie’s colleagues admitted the two men had taken a “comfort stop” lasting 48 or 58 minutes and that they had falsified entries in their notebooks.
Mr Couttie, of Hoylake Crescent, was interviewed and discrepancies were found between his account and those on CCTV and in security log sheets.
One incident related to youths causing a disturbance and Mr Muir concluded neither Mr Couttie nor his colleague had been there at the time they recorded.
The probe resulted in seven wardens being accused of abusing break times and going forward for disciplinary hearings.
All seven were invited to view CCTV footage but declined. Two of the seven resigned and five of the hearings went ahead, including Mr Couttie’s.
He faced allegations involving extended breaks without authorisation, inaccurate notebook entries, failing to respond to a complaint and being untruthful about his whereabouts. All were substantiated and he was sacked. The four others who faced disciplinary action kept their jobs.
Mr Couttie appealed on grounds of severity of outcome, differential treatment, one of the breaks being unofficial, breach of human rights by using CCTV and flaws in the probe but was unsuccessful.
Judge Muriel Robison found MrCouttie’s dismissal for gross misconduct was not unfair and within the range of reasonable responses, despite his previous clean record.
The council had contended that four of the five allegations would have merited a final written warning but the fifth lying to management and making false notebook entries made his case more serious.
The tribunal panel agreed. They said lives could be put at risk where wardens failed or delayed to answer calls, and inaccurate notebook entries could compromise criminal justice.
A spokesman for Dundee City Council said: ”We cannot comment on individual personnel matters.”