A Catholic train driver was threatened with kneecapping by a colleague, a Northern Ireland Fair Employment Tribunal has heard.
Mr Paul Hoy, who is claiming religious harassment and victimisation, claimed a Protestant driver, Mr Gary Mercer, made the threat because of a row over a job promotion. "I was petrified. I was threatened with physical violence," he told the tribunal yesterday. "Mr Mercer approached me himself. I had absolutely no witnesses to back up what had been said."
Mr Hoy (33), from Lurgan, was challenged about the claim by Mr Pat Ferrity representing Northern Ireland Railways.
Mr Ferrity asked why he had not written the incident in a diary he kept for recording harassment.
He replied: "I had been told to keep notes but not on a daily basis." The lawyer said Mr Mercer would deny threatening Mr Hoy. The case centres on claims that Mr Hoy was harassed and intimidated at Portadown Railway Station after Mr Mercer was stripped of promotion to the post of traction inspector.
He lost the job after objections by Mr Hoy and others. The tribunal was told that Mr Mercer blamed Mr Hoy. Mr Hoy claimed his car was damaged, his kit-bag interfered with and sectarian remarks about him posted in the drivers' rest room. He accused Northern Ireland Railways management of doing nothing to deal with his complaints. Mr Stephen Faulkner, a train driver assessor and shop steward, told the tribunal there had been a "happy-go-lucky" atmosphere before Mr Mercer lost his job.
"From that, the atmosphere just went downhill," he said. Mr Faulkner said sectarian comments were made to him after he accompanied Mr Hoy to a meeting with management. "I was told I was a 'Fenian lover'."
The tribunal continues today. -(PA)