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Celebrity chef unfairly sacked
Celebrity Ready, Steady Cook: Phil Vickery is on the left
Celebrity chef Phil Vickery has won his case for unfair dismissal from a £60,000-a-year job at a top hotel.
Mr Vickery, the partner of the BBC's Ready, Steady Cook presenter Fern Britton, was unfairly sacked as head chef at The Castle in Taunton, Somerset last year, a tribunal ruled.
Mr Vickery, the partner of the BBC's Ready, Steady Cook presenter Fern Britton, was unfairly sacked as head chef at The Castle in Taunton, Somerset last year, a tribunal ruled.
He is one of Britain's most talented chefs and so when something like this happens it is desperately sad  |
Kit Chapman
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Hotel owner Kit Chapman claimed the chef - who took over the job from Gary Rhodes in 1990 - resigned after reaching a crossroads in his career.
He said Mr Vickery, 38, had begun to spend a "significant amount of time" away from the hotel but had continued to appear on Ready, Steady Cook while on leave for stress.
But the tribunal ruled Mr Vickery was unfairly dismissed and he will be awarded damages for breach of contract in April
However the chef was ordered to reimburse the five star hotel for a £1,444 trip he took to Venice with Ms Britton, 40, which he paid for on his expenses account, and told to pay back an interest free loan of nearly £3,000 to the hotel.
Mr Vickery said the trip was a working holiday to research food for which he was entitled to use his allowance, but Ms Britton had told Hello! magazine it was a present to her, the tribunal heard.
The panel ruled this was a misunderstanding on Mr Vickery's part and not deliberate deception.
Mr Chapman said: "Phil Vickery was a very great friend of mine, a personal friend and he is a great chef.
"He is one of Britain's most talented chefs and so when something like this happens it is desperately sad."
He said Mr Vickery, 38, had begun to spend a "significant amount of time" away from the hotel but had continued to appear on Ready, Steady Cook while on leave for stress.
But the tribunal ruled Mr Vickery was unfairly dismissed and he will be awarded damages for breach of contract in April
However the chef was ordered to reimburse the five star hotel for a £1,444 trip he took to Venice with Ms Britton, 40, which he paid for on his expenses account, and told to pay back an interest free loan of nearly £3,000 to the hotel.
Mr Vickery said the trip was a working holiday to research food for which he was entitled to use his allowance, but Ms Britton had told Hello! magazine it was a present to her, the tribunal heard.
The panel ruled this was a misunderstanding on Mr Vickery's part and not deliberate deception.
Mr Chapman said: "Phil Vickery was a very great friend of mine, a personal friend and he is a great chef.
"He is one of Britain's most talented chefs and so when something like this happens it is desperately sad."
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