Drug testing | Worker sacked after unwittingly drinking tea laced with cocaine

A rail worker who was sacked after accidentally taking cocaine has won a case for unfair dismissal, but didn't escape a stern word from an employment judge.

Paul Glenholmes, a Network Rail employee, drank an herbal tea that was intended to aid digestion, but unbeknownst to him, the drink also contained the Class A substance.

He subsequently failed a drug test at work and was sacked. The train worker insisted he was unaware of the full ingredients, having purchased it from a market stall in a packet with no label, but his explanation fell on deaf ears, and he was told “drinking cocaine in tea does not make it legal.”

Following a three-day tribunal hearing, an employment judge ruled that Mr Glenholmes was “wholly to blame” for the incident and that his employers were right to dismiss him.