A FORMER council worker has won a tribunal against an employer which unlawfully sacked him just months before he was due to receive a pension payout.

John Wooster 50, of St Winifred's Close, in Chigwell, worked for Tower Hamlets Council for 33 years after joining the authority as a junior clerk in 1973.

But he was made redundant by the employee he had faithfully served just months short of the 50th birthday that would have granted him pension payments.

He told the Guardian: "I loved the job and had lovely colleagues. I've never really wanted to work anywhere else - it's in my family history. My father and grandfather both worked for them.

"I went home in October 2006 and there was a letter on my doormat from my employer saying in harsh words I had been made compulsorily redundant. My last day was two days after Christmas.

"It was like a bereavement. I can only explain it in that way. I worked in an office with many other colleagues but I was the only one targeted for this awful treatment. I was 49 and I saw myself leaving at the normal retirement age.

"I think it was absolutely disgusting. They didn't even tell me why they'd done it. I had no right of appeal and they wouldn't even give me a reference to help find another job."

Mr Wooster took Tower Hamlets to Stratford Employment Tribunal which found this month he had been unfairly dismissed and a victim of age discrimination.

He said: "I was delighted with the result. It was a weight off my shoulders. It's been 18 months of strife, anxiety, and worry, but I won justice in the end. I hope it helps anyone else going through what I did."

A Tower Hamlets Council spokesman said: "The council does not accept the finding of the tribunal that Mr Wooster's dismissal was age-related and in breach of the Employment Equality Regulations and will be filing an appeal.

"Following a staff restructure Mr Wooster was allowed to benefit from a secondment to another organisation rather than being made redundant.

"This was exceptional and caused managers to fail to correctly follow procedures that must be followed in law when that secondment ended.

"The council was obliged to admit unfair dismissal which is automatic if employment procedures are not followed. Nevertheless refusal to extend the notice period to allow an employee to benefit from enhanced pension was right and proper.

"The council must act with prudence to protect public money."