A firefighter who was sacked for throwing a disabled man’s phone was unfairly dismissed due to “troubling failures” by top officials, a tribunal has ruled.

John Linden lost his job after footage emerged of him appearing to snatch a handset and lob it away following an altercation with the man at the scene of a fire in South Lynn.

The former station manager, who served for 32 years, was caught on camera appearing to throw Jimmy Evans’ phone over a hedge after they got into an argument at Harding’s Pit.

He later took Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service to an employment tribunal, claiming officials had failed to follow the correct procedures during his disciplinary hearing.

The tribunal panel, led by employment judge Spencer, found numerous issues with how the service investigated the incident in 2023, which were described as “troubling”.

A key issue was an email sent by Ceri Sumner, chief fire officer, which in effect instructed the disciplinary investigators not to interview key witnesses.

This included Mr Evans, who made the original complaint.

In court documents detailing the decision, the panel said: “We concluded that there are so many procedural failures in this case that the procedure followed by the respondent is outside the band of reasonable responses. The dismissal was unfair on procedural grounds.”

Mr Linden also claimed he was discriminated against by the service, stating his PTSD had caused him to overreact due to feeling threatened by Mr Evans. However, this claim failed.

A separate charge of failing to make reasonable adjustments for his disability was “well-founded”, according to the panel.

This relates to the fire service failing to provide adequate training for Mr Linden for him to manage situations involving aggressive members of the public.

But the complaint was out of time and could no longer be considered.

Following the outcome, Mr Linden said: “There are no winners here. This has cost Norfolk taxpayers tens of thousands of pounds, with specialist employment lawyers hired by Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service at great expense.

“I will always be sad and disappointed by the way I was treated.

“The fire service was my life. I put 110% in every day and attended some of the most harrowing incidents across the county and country.

“I achieved several commendations and was highly respected by colleagues.”

Mr Linden says he is considering his next steps while awaiting a remedy hearing in January next year.

A spokeswoman for the fire service said: “We acknowledge Mr Linden was unfairly dismissed for procedural reasons. However, the judgment concluded that dismissal was a reasonable response in the circumstances.

“Once we have fully considered the findings, we will decide on our next steps.

“Over the last couple of years we have done a huge amount to improve the culture in organisation, and we are continuing to drive these improvements to ensure that we have teams with high professional standards who represent the best interests of our service and the communities we serve.”

The incident which led to Mr Linden’s resignation saw footage widely shared online appearing to show Mr Evans’ phone being thrown by Mr Linden into the undergrowth.

The pair got into an argument after Mr Evans, who makes videos under the name Wheelz Media, refused to move away from the smoke coming from the smouldering grass.

The video was key to Mr Linden’s dismissal and fire service officials said the footage risked damaging the service’s reputation and eroding the public’s trust.

However, Mr Linden said the blogger had been known to harass his staff previously and that he had acted in an aggressive manner at the scene.