R v A

EMPLOYMENT APPEAL TRIBUNAL 58 VICTORIA EMBANKMENT, LONDON EC4Y 0DS At the Tribunal On 14 October 1997 Judgment delivered on 21 November 1997 Before

By a letter dated 19th October the Tribunal replied that a Chairman had directed that the matters should be dealt with by "the Chairman in front of whom the case is listed on 24 and 25 October". In other words, it was directed that the admissibility of the tape and transcript would be considered by the Chairman alone at the outset of the substantive hearing. This prompted Mr Marsh to write again to the Industrial Tribunal on 20th October in these terms:

On 23rd October Mr Hicks delivered three bundles to the office of the tribunal. The bundles included the transcript. Indeed, it seems that the transcript remained in the bundles of all three members of the tribunal at all material times thereafter.

On the morning of 25th October R asked Mr Marsh whether the transcript had been removed from the bundles. Mr Marsh requested a further preliminary hearing and one took place, the parties present being the Chairman, Mr Marsh and Mr Hicks. Mr Marsh's recollection of what then transpired is set out in the following passage of one of his affidavits:

It seems that the members of the tribunal met together on 14th November and came to their unanimous decision which was subsequently promulgated on 8th December. On 18th December 1995 Mr Marsh applied for a review, the application asserting that: