This is a new one – or it would be, if you were likely to get away with it.
Reginald Garden was “off sick” from work with a “bad back” for 7 months. He used the sick period to train as a driving instructor. His company sacked him two weeks after he qualified as an ADI.
Garden was originally paid £8,000 for unfair dismissal, but that has been overturned on appeal. The appeals Judge said that Garden had “lied to his employers… and continued to take lessons even after being warned.”
Garden just wants to “move on” from the ruling.
Two things pass through my mind. The first is how someone so “ill” they couldn’t work could manage to complete the necessary ADI training. Sitting in a car is absolutely one of the worst things for a “bad back”, so it raises obvious question about the genuineness of the original reason for being off sick.
The second thing is one of the criteria for becoming an instructor (and remaining one). Being a “fit and proper” person, and all that.
I always assumed that lies and dishonesty would be included in that.