Train worker Peter Duffy sacked by LNER for serving sausage rolls he took from the bin to passengers

Peter Duffy was captured on CCTV getting the snacks out of the bin and plating them up, before a colleague then took them to the customers in the first class carriage.

Duffy was sacked by the rail firm as a result of his actions, but he later claimed he had been unfairly dismissed. But, at a tribunal in Newcastle, a judge ruled LNER had acted reasonably.

The incident happened on May 7 2023. On that day, Duffy and a fellow train crew member were working on an LNER service which had departed from York when two first passengers ordered sausage rolls.

Another member of staff who reported the incident told the tribunal: "Myself and a host from standard class had been in the kitchen to get ourselves food when the host who was cooking told us the sausage rolls had just gone in the bin."

Later, the member of staff, who has not been named, said he heard "lots of laughing" from inside the kitchen where Duffy and his colleague, who has also not been named, were based.

Duffy was informed at a subsequent HR meeting that CCTV footage taken on the train had captured him retrieving the sausage rolls from a bin. The footage suggested the food was plated and re-heated by Duffy and then served to the unsuspsecting customers by his colleague.

Both were suspended pending an investigation into the alleged breach of food hygiene standards.

When presented with the CCTV footage, Duffy said: “I clearly took them out as there were none left for people in first class but they were wrapped in foil. . . We had totally ran out, I have just gone too far for the customer in my mind’.”

Duffy added that he had been “a bit all over” on that day, “stressed with work” and on an anti-depressant for severe anxiety, as well as pain medication.

His manager argued that CCTV footage showed that the binned sausage rolls were not actually completely wrapped in foil.

An investigation later found that Duffy had breached food hygiene regulations, which amounted to gross misconduct.

Duffy’s union rep said he did not dispute carrying out the actions, but said: “We argue that the strain, stress and anxiety that Peter had been under leading up to this incident led him to do something so out of character, no one with compassion can deny it is instrumental in his actions that night.”

Employment Judge Aspden rejected the claim of unfair dismisal, however. Their report said: “We are satisfied that the claimant’s relevant behaviour on the day in question was not caused or contributed to by his mental state and the anxiety he had been experiencing.”