GREENWICH Council has lost an Industrial Tribunal hearing which found they unfairly dismissed three binmen who allegedly took a £10 bribe to remove the wrong kind of rubbish.

Today, ex-shop steward Tony Dowsett, will move out of his family home, after exchanging contracts to sell the house, the same week he and his colleges were exonerated.

Trade union UNISON, presented Mr Dowsett, Dave Holden and Peter Addleys case to the Employment Tribunal Services, Montague Court, in Croydon, on December 11 and 12, after a major campaign including strike action, failed to get them back their original jobs. The men, were sacked by Greenwich Council, after a supervisor alleged they had taken a bribe to remove industrial waste from a residential site.

The tribunal found, the council had not clearly defined what garbage was trade or domestic, had not thoroughly investigated the allegations, or considered the clean-records of the employees when they were fired.

A hearing scheduled for February 12, will decide the amount of compensation and what arrangements will be made for the men to be reinstated to their old jobs. UNISON branch secretary, Onay Kasab, who represented the men at the hearing, said: The men should never have been sacked. The decision of the tribunal represents a massive victory for the men, their families and the trade union.

On leaving the tribunal, a tearful Mrs Eileen Dowsett, spoke to the News Shopper of her delight with the tribunals decision but the heartbreak caused by having to sell her home, in Hythe Avenue, Bexleyheath.

She said: Today the tribunal has acknowledged what we knew all along that the men were innocent. This week we have had to exchange contracts on our house.

The amount of stress and suffering caused to innocent people by this situation is beyond belief and is something we will never be able to forget.

A spokesman from Greenwich council said: The council will follow the law and the judgements given. We will wait for the full written judgement before we decide whether to appeal.