A REDDITCH engineer who lost his job repairing and servicing cleaning equipment in schools when his employer's new contract tender was outbid has had his claim for unfair dismissal rejected.

Stephen Footman, of Sandhurst Road, carried out the work for Cleaning Machines International Ltd at 100 Solihull schools before the firm lost the contract to Scrubtec of Sutton Coldfield, a Birmingham Employment Tribunal was told.

Mr Footman lost his job when the firm's contract was transferred to Scrubtec.

David Male, who runs Scrubtec, had said at a previous tribunal hearing that his tender for the council contract had been the lowest at £43,856 - the highest being £67,396.

Mr Footman had been told at the previous preliminary hearing that Scrubtec was responsible for him losing his job and not his previous employer.

Mr Footman said at the latest hearing that he worked for three years for his previous firm, repairing and servicing 1,800 cleaning equipment and floor polishing devices in 100 schools.

"I had been assured on transfer to Scrubtec that my job was secure," he said.

"I loved my job and made a lot of friends.

"I have since tried hard to get another job but I have been rejected five times.

"I have lost a lot of money since losing my job and I am now on a job seeker's allowance."

Mr Male told the tribunal, however, that he had tendered for the council contract as a one man business and had not planned, financially, to take on Mr Footman.

"If I had had to take on Mr Footman I would have had to increase my tender to allow for his wages," said Mr Male.

"The contract price at present guarantees me an income without taking on Mr Footman, I can do the job myself and it would be uneconomical to employ Mr Footman."

Tribunal chairman Mr A S Ahmed accepted Mr Male's statement that his budget did not have the capacity to employ someone else.

"Mr Footman has lost his job by way of redundancy and his claim for unfair dismissal is rejected," said Mr Ahmed.

"The situation highlights the dangers of tendering for new contracts where there is a transfer of employees."

Mr Footman said after the hearing that he was disappointed with the outcome.