A fire service worker accused of “shoulder-barging” a female shopper to the floor at a Tesco in London after he was alleged to have pushed to the front of the queue has won an unfair dismissal claim.
Ryan Shearwood, a hydrant technician with the London Fire Brigade, had been purchasing his lunch at the Pinner Green branch when he entered a confrontation with the woman.
She later complained to the LFB that she had been “physically assaulted” by one of their employees, and that she had been “shoved to the ground”.
He denied the accusation, and claimed that he had extended his elbow to the side to “defend” himself after she barged past him.
Mr Shearwood was subsequently fired for misconduct after and LFB investigation concluded that he had assaulted her.
After suing the London Fire Commissioner for unfair dismissal, a judge concluded that his employers had been wrong to draw that conclusion, and is in line for compensation.
The tribunal heard that the incident occurred on 10 October 2022 after he objected to the woman jumping the self-checkout queue, which she denied doing.
Despite not being in uniform, she was able to identify him as a LFB worker because he was driving a brigade vehicle.
In her email she said: “Earlier today in Tesco Pinner Green I was physically assaulted by a man who works for LFB (or was at least driving one of your vans).
“I had been waiting in the scan as you shop area and the scale not been working on, so I was instructed by a member of staff to wait and use one of the self-checkout machines to weigh an item.
“As I was standing there in a different part of where the self-checkout queue was, I saw an elderly man, so I let him go and then I walked through after him, and that’s when this man (in the pictures attached) walked up to self-checkout till and said that I pushed in the queue.
“I told him that I didn’t and tried to explain the situation to him (that a staff member told me to wait and then go ahead and weigh my item there), but he refused to listen and when I placed my purse and item on the scale, he shoved me to the ground.
“He is an extremely unreasonable person and even the staff were saying a simple apology or acknowledgement of the misunderstanding of the situation could’ve rectified it, but he refused to do so.
“Calling me names and escalating the situation further by loudly saying there was something wrong with me and I have “mental health issues” which I know was a predictable attempt to paint me as angry crazy black woman, which is not something that I take lightly at all.”
She added that she had been left “shaking and crying” by the incident, and was “running on adrenaline”.
An investigation was opened by the LFB but the Tesco store informed them that they could only release CCTV if there was a police investigation due to data privacy reasons. It was subsequently destroyed after 30 days after the woman decided against pressing charges.
The Tesco store manager described what was seen on the CCTV footage and said: “One bearded male is seen on the overhead CCTV at the self-checkout and on the self-serve till camera, he shoulder barges a lady to the floor – there is no audio but it looks like the lady is upset and they are arguing, he then leaves the area.”
Another witness said that while she had not seen the push, she had heard the woman say: “You pushed me on the floor, no one’s ever pushed me in my life, why did you push me.”
The altercation then continued with the woman pushing Mr Shearwood, who was described as being “really unbothered by it all”, and accusing the woman of jumping the queue.
In his witness statement, Mr Shearwood said: “I have simply raised my arm in shock at being unexpectedly and aggressively pushed by a member of the public enraged at being asked not to push in the queue, this is a natural reflexive action to protect myself and prevent me losing my balance and is in no way assault.”
After LFB concluded he was guilty of assault, he was dismissed from his job, a role he had held since 2019.
However, the judge found they were wrong to come to this conclusion.
Judge Tueje said: “I find it is more likely than not that Mr Shearwood’s account of the altercation on 10th October 2022 is accurate for the reasons set out below.
“The complainant’s account is that during an altercation with Mr Shearwood he “shoved her to the ground”. Neither of the independent witnesses saw Mr Shearwood shove the complainant, and he denies doing so.”
The judge also found that the woman’s description of Mr Shearwood was “inconsistent” with witness reports that he appeared unbothered, and that the security guard confirmed he could leave.
They added the LFB did not carry out a fair investigation on procedural grounds.
