DIRECT CARE LTD v MR K POTTS [2000] UKEAT 1400_99_0903
[1]APPEARANCES For the Appellant No appearance by or on behalf of the Appellant. JUDGE COLLINS: This is an appeal against the refusal of the chairman of the employment tribunal at Southampton, notified on 27 September 1999, to grant a review of the tribunal's decision. The decision itself, which was promulgated on 2 November 1999 and was a decision of the chairman sitting alone, is one which the appellants are unable to challenge because any appeal would have been out of time. But they are in time for the purposes of challenging a decision not to hold a review.[2]The tribunal had decided that there been unlawful deductions from Mr Potts' remuneration and made an award accordingly. The appellants did not attend the hearing before the tribunal and when a review was applied for the chairman said that there were no reasons given by the appellants for not attending and therefore was absolutely no prospect of success. The appellants have not attended this hearing either although Mr Potts, no doubt out of justifiable curiosity, has attended to observe the proceedings. No explanation has been submitted to this tribunal why the appellants did not attend and present their case on 2 September 1999 or why they have not attended today. In our judgment, the possibility of the prospect of appealing against the chairman's decision to refuse a review is quite hopeless and we dismiss this appeal.