Motorcycle Action Group to appeal employment tribunal judgement

MAG is to appeal after losing an employment tribunal, the riders’ rights group has said.

The Motorcycle Action Group was judged to have constructively dismissed three former employees in a tribunal which heard complaints of bullying and intimidation against the Director, Neil Liversidge.

The employment judge said witnesses would have been intimidated by the volume of Liversidge’s voice, while MAG President Ian Mutch said the Director had the ‘diplomatic credentials of a chieftan tank’.

The tribunal upheld complaints of constructive unfair dismissal by three claimants including MAG’s former General Secretary Nich Brown and former Campaigns Manager Paddy Tyson.

Now MAG has responded with a statement attacking the former employees and saying an appeal is planned.   

The statement, published on the group's website, says: ‘MAG is naturally disappointed by the judgment which it does not accept as either fair or as an accurate reflection of the true circumstances. MAG is therefore appealing.’

The grounds for appeal are not set out and much of the 500-word statement is devoted to attacking the claimants.

It includes: ‘It was of extreme concern that MAG Central Office was not efficient due to Mr Brown and Mr Tyson's prioritisation of their own Overland magazine and touring venture, carried out in MAG hours when they should instead have been focused on the jobs MAG was paying them to do.’

Brown told Visordown: 'The allegations made in MAG's official statement are a contemptible distortion of the facts. Mr Liversidge laid these allegations in front of the recent employment tribunal but he failed to convince the judge.'

Last week Visordown revealed how, in the wake of the tribunal, MAG began trading using a new company.