Ms L Driscoll v Run Afan Forest Ltd: 1600082/2024
JUDGMENT
[1]The breach of contract claim is well founded and succeeds and the second respondent is ordered to pay to the claimant damages in the net sum of £2,564.95.[2]The claim of unlawful deductions from wages is well founded and succeeds in respect of unpaid holiday pay, unpaid wages and unpaid pension contributions and the second respondent is ordered to pay compensation to the claimant in the net sum of £2,314.63.[3]An application by the respondent for an adjournment to obtain bank statements was refused because the issue to which the new evidence might be relevant had not been pleaded, nor raised when agreeing the issues at the outset of the hearing, nor put in cross examination, nor mentioned in the respondent’s oral witness evidence. An adjournment would have been required to allow service of the documents and additional witness evidence from both parties which could not be accommodated in the remaining hearing time. The new evidence was said to be relevant to a dispute over £300 of unpaid wages. In light of the above and the second respondent’s assertion that it was very soon going into receivership, it was not proportionate, nor in the interests of justice, to grant the late application which would require another hearing that would be listed in several months’ time and could have been avoided if the second Case Number: 1600082/2024 respondent had made reasonable efforts to prepare its case in a timely manner.