A union worker will appear at an employment tribunal today to challenge her sacking from Whipps Cross Hospital after 26 years.

Charlotte Monro, who worked as a moving and handling coordinator at the Leytonstone hospital, was dismissed in 2013.

Barts Health Trust said it discovered "undisclosed prison sentences" relating to protests in the past and suspended her in July 2013.

However Ms Monro, who is the chairwoman of Unison’s Waltham Forest health branch, claims the dismissal was due to her work for the union.

She claims that disciplinary action began against her started when she expressed concerns about changes to stroke services at a council meeting.

Barts Health has always denied that the dismissal was due to her role for the union.

The tribunal starts today and is expected to last at least three days at Anchorage House, in Clove Crescent, Poplar.