A delivery driver has been sacked for refusing to wear a face mask inside his lorry during the pandemic.

Deimantas Kubilius had been making a delivery at Tate and Lyle sugar refinery, in east London, where he was asked to wear a mask inside the cab of his HGV as part of their new Covid rules.

The Kent Foods driver then ‘dug his heels in’ and refused, despite bosses at the site saying they were concerned he could pass on the virus while speaking out of the window.

Tate and Lyle then contacted Kent Foods about the incident, and Mr Kubilius was fired as a result of his stance, causing him to launch legal action against his company.

The landmark employment tribunal heard Kent Foods received an email from a Tate and Lyle manager on May 21 which said ‘unfortunately we had an incident with one of your drivers this morning’.

It added: ‘The driver was asked repeatedly to put his mask on by one of our managers. Every driver receives a mask when he enters site with instructions to wear the mask when on site. He refused, saying he was in his cab and he didn’t have to.’

Mr Kubilius had told how he felt his truck space was being ‘invaded’ by the rules. He pointed out he was not required to wear a mask inside his cab by law and said he happily complied with the protection when outside the vehicle.

He said: ‘I did nothing wrong, I just stay in my cab and staff from Tates came to me and start required to keep mask on my face but I don’t must seat in my cab with mask, my cab is my home [sic].’

Tate and Lyle manager Jon Freeman said: ‘I asked him to put his mask back on, he told me he didn’t need to as he was in his cab.

‘I then explained that with no mask on, all the droplets coming from his mouth as he spoke were going to land on people’s faces due to his elevated position up in the cab and that the site rules were he needed it on until he leaves site, also we were wearing our masks to protect him. He still refused.’

Tate and Lyle’s Nick Kirbyshire added: ‘To have someone, who is a visitor on site blatantly refusing a simple request, is extremely frustrating and it did make me very angry.

‘As that mask was not for his protection. That mask was to protect everyone else on site from any potential Covid risk that the driver has brought in with him.’

Mr Kubilius contended that it ‘was not reasonable’ for Kent Foods to sack him, but Employment Judge Barrett dismissed his unfair dismissal claim at East London tribunal centre.

Judge Barrett said: ‘I accept Kubilius’ evidence that he was not informed of the requirement to wear a face mask even inside his cab until he was asked to do so by Mr Freeman.

‘Kubilius is a details-oriented person who believed he was following the written site instructions. He was surprised by the instruction, and dug his heels in.

‘Everyone was operating under a level of stress as key-workers required to work during the coronavirus lockdown.’

Judge Barrett said though it may have been ‘reasonable’ to warn Mr Kubilius, his ‘continued insistence that he had done nothing wrong caused [Kent Foods] to reasonably lose confidence in his future conduct’.

The judge concluded: ‘Taking into account the relevant circumstances, including [Mr Kubilius’] lack of remorse and the practical difficulties caused by the Tate and Lyle site ban, I conclude that the decision to dismiss fell within the range of reasonable responses.’

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