"Female Truck Driver Fired for Chronic Tardiness Blames 'Erratic Sleep Pattern' for Struggles with 9 AM Start Time"

A LORRY driver who said her “erratic sleep pattern” stopped her starting work on time has lost her unfair dismissal claim.

Bosses fired Ellie Gresley stating her repeated lateness and two crashes made her position at the firm untenable.

HGV driver Ellie Gresley was fired from her job after repeatedly failing to arrive on time Credit: Facebook Ellie was also involved in two road collisions for which she was ‘at fault’, a tribunal heard Credit: Facebook

The HGV driver, who worked for waste firm Stericycle in Aylesford, , insisted she struggled with sleep and could not begin early shifts like her colleagues.

Despite having her start time pushed back from 7am to 9am, a tribunal heard she still failed to show up on time and wouldn’t start some shifts until 10.30am.

Ellie took her employer, SRCL Ltd, to an tribunal claiming unfair dismissal along with discrimination over disability, age and sex.

But a judge threw out all her claims and pointed out that some drivers at the firm start as early as 4am.

The hearing was told Ellie joined the company in October 2021 after being referred by her father, Daniel, who still works there.

She was said to have begun the job “with enthusiasm”.

But her employment “did not get off to a flying start” after she was hauled into a probation meeting over workplace accidents.

Ellie agreed at the time she would avoid further “blameworthy accidents” and not start later than 7am.

However her performance did not improve and she was caught starting some shifts after 10am – which she put down to difficulties falling asleep.

Ellie later argued she suffered from a string of conditions including ADHD, autism, dyslexia, anxiety and sleep problems, claiming undiagnosed at the time.

But Employment Judge Suraj Sudra rejected that argument.

He said: “I find that [Ms Gresley’s] evidence was honest but at times misconceived and entrenched.

“One illustrative example was [Ms Gresley’s] persistent refusal to accept that employees of [SRCL Limited] had an expected start time or, at least, a latest expected start time.

“[Ms Gresley] was also resolute that because Mr Hall was not her official line-manager he had no authority to query her lateness or time-keeping.

“Apart from issues with sleeping Mr Hall was unaware of any of [Ms Gresley’s] other conditions.

“Therefore, he did not tell her that whilst she may have medical conditions she still needed to begin her shift at 8.00am nor did he tell her that if she did not begin her shift by 8.00am he would look at other work options for her.

“The majority of businesses on [Ms Gresley’s] route had their hours between 9.00am and 5.00pm.

“If Mr Ackerman (her service manager) had agreed that [Ms Gresley] could start work between 10.00am and 1.00pm that would have put in jeopardy [Ms Gresley’s] ability to successfully make all the collections on her route which in turn, would have placed [SRCL Limited] in breach of its service level agreements with customers.

“There was no evidence before me that [Ms Gresley] has a sleeping impairment or sleeping condition which would qualify as a disability.

“[SRCL Limited] has established the proportionate means of achieving legitimate aims which were to ensure service delivery and business continuity; and to uphold high standards of to protect the and safety of both [SRCL Limited’s] drivers and other road users.

“[SRCL Limited’s] treatment of [Ms Gresley] was not connected to difficulty in sleeping or difficulty in [Ms Gresley] explaining herself and therefore, this allegation is dismissed.”

The tribunal also heard Ms Gresley was allowed further flexibility, including a later 8am start and taking her van home, but still often began work hours late.

Between January 23 and January 30, 2023, Ellie failed to start earlier than 9.30am, with some days as late as 10.30am.

Concerns grew among managers over missed collections and the impact on customers.

After another crash in August 2023, she was dismissed that December.

All her claims were unsuccessful and dismissed.