A former parish clerk has been awarded nearly £50,000 following an employment tribunal that exposed bitter divisions within a tiny Wirral village’s local authority.
Luke Trevaskis successfully sued Puddington Parish Council in Cheshire after being dismissed from his position.
The Liverpool tribunal ruled in his favour over claims that councillors wrongly held him responsible for creating what was described as a “febrile atmosphere of complaints, gossip and speculation” amongst residents.
The substantial payout of £48,913 comes after the council chose not to participate in the legal proceedings.
Things escalated further when its vice-chairwoman Alison Raine went as far as to threaten reporting the tribunal to police for harassment.
The entire parish council subsequently resigned approximately 18 months ago as the dispute escalated beyond resolution.
The conflict originated in 2021, approximately a year after Mr Trevaskis took up his position, when he arranged insurance coverage for the council.
However, members neglected to approve the necessary funds.
Puddington Parish Council in Cheshire has been at the centre of a row
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When the clerk highlighted potential risks of operating without valid insurance, senior councillors dismissed his warnings as “scaremongering”, according to tribunal evidence.
The situation deteriorated further in 2022 when Mr Trevaskis renewed his concerns about the insurance matter, prompting multiple council members to tender their resignations.
Those who stayed in post reportedly condemned what the tribunal described as his “efforts at complying with the statutory obligations on parish councils”.
By 2023, tensions had reached breaking point, with Mr Trevaskis presenting a letter during a public meeting declaring he was “working under protest at his treatment”.
The tiny village of Puddington has attracted the row
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The employment judge delivered a scathing assessment of the council’s operations, determining it had been “run in such a chaotic and slapdash way” that basic administrative functions were neglected.
Tribunal evidence revealed that councillors had failed to read any of Mr Trevaskis’s correspondence between 2021 and 2022, including urgent messages about insurance payment requirements and potential legal ramifications.
The clerk testified that he was routinely included in email chains containing “antagonistic discussions about him”, creating such anxiety that he experienced “dread at checking his emails”.
The judge concluded that the council had been “attempting to pin the blame for their failures” on Trevaskis before ultimately terminating his employment, describing their behaviour as “at best reckless and at worst malicious”.
Questions remain over who will foot the substantial compensation bill, with former parish councillor Bryan Blakeman expressing doubts about the council’s financial capacity.
“Does that mean individual councillors will have to pay if they’ve been found to be negligent?” Blakeman asked.
He continued: “Luke may not get the money. The parish council certainly doesn’t have that much money.”
The picturesque village, home to just over 300 residents according to a 2022 jubilee marker, lacks both a pub and shop, leaving its parish council with limited revenue streams.
Mr Blakeman acknowledged the council bore liability for the payout.
He admitted that “some of the people on the council probably didn’t have the right training and didn’t understand their responsibilities as employers”.
He said he had found it difficult to get responses to emails from Mr Trevaskis, which was “frustrating”.
