A BMW assembly line worker has won more than £16,000 after being sacked for collecting sandwiches from his car during his break.

Ryan Parkinson successfully sued his employer GI Group, a recruitment company which provides temporary labour to BMW’s Oxford factory, for unfair dismissal after his supervisor claimed that he had left the site on two occasions without permission.

Mr Parkinson argued that he had only gone to the car park to collect his sandwiches, an area which he considered part of the factory site.

It was the second time that Mr Parkinson had been sacked over claims he left the BMW factory, having been previously sacked for a trip to Burger King. That sacking was reduced to a final written warning on appeal.

The tribunal found that there was genuine confusion in Mr Parkinson’s mind about what was “on site” or not when he went to get his sandwiches, and that this was not “sufficiently or reasonably” investigated by his employer before sacking him.

It therefore ruled that Mr Parkinson’s dismissal was “procedurally and substantively unfair.”