HIGH Street food retailer Waitrose mishandled a grievance investigation into a former partner's claims of bullying by a manager at its Melksham store, an Employment Tribunal in Bristol has ruled.

Former store partner Michael Blakeborough, 36, told the five-day tribunal in Bristol he was "humiliated and belittled" by the store's team manager Tom Philip in front of other partners and customers during an incident on November 30 2017 while he was doing price reductions.

Mr Blakeborough, of Longford Road, Melksham, said the incident had left him suffering from anxiety and he had experienced a panic attack in a rest room area.

Mr Blakeborough told the tribunal he suffers from mental health conditions, including an anxiety disorder, meaning he struggles with constant everyday worries and suffers panic attacks.

Represented by his partner Donald Robson, Mr Blakeborough said a Waitrose manager had failed to view the shop's CCTV footage which could have supported his grievances during an internal investigation.

In a secondment unrelated to Mr Blakeborough's grievances, Mr Philip moved from the Melksham Waitrose store to another Waitrose store in south Gloucestershire.

Mr Blakeborough worked for Waitrose for seven years before resigning from his job at the Bath Road store in October 2018 after learning Mr Philip was coming back to work there again.

He said: “I am still anxious of going near the Branch.”

Employment Tribunal Judge Martha Street ruled Mr Blakeborough’s claims against Waitrose's parent company, John Lewis plc, on February 9 2018 and June 20 2018 for direct discrimination and unfair constructive dismissal should succeed.

His remaining claims of direct discrimination, harassment and victimisation, and the company’s alleged failure to make reasonable adjustments, were dismissed.

Judge Street adjourned the question of remedy to December 5.

A John Lewis spokesman said: "We have a zero tolerance approach to bullying and harassment and can confirm that a recent Employment Tribunal did not uphold these allegations from Mr Blakeborough.

"However, it did uphold some of Mr Blakeborough's claims in relation to how his grievance was dealt with and a further hearing is due to be held in December."