Ken backs Tube chiefs over strike

Ken Livingstone today gave his wholehearted support to Tube chiefs who sacked train driver Chris Barrett and refused to reinstate him.

The Mayor also highlighted Mr Barrett's appalling sick leave record. The driver has, on average, taken one day a week off sick during his six year career with LU.

Mr Livingstone, who has previously been accused of siding with the unions, said: "That's the background. On this occasion he was caught playing squash when he had been off work with a sprained ankle for months.

"The Underground's occupational health doctors say they would not advise someone off work with a sprained ankle to play squash. I am only surprised Mr Barrett was allowed to get away with it for so long."

Mr Barrett, who lives in Hackney, maintains he was told by doctors that exercise would help speed his recovery. He said: "I was not playing squash. I was just exercising my ankle on a squash court. I have got two letters, from my GP and my sports-injury therapist, so you tell me if I'm in the wrong."

He added the situation was not simply about his ankle, but also about the right of any worker to follow doctors' orders when off sick. Bob Crow, leader of the RMT, said: "Once more LU is scraping the bottom of the barrel in finding a pretext to sack a union activist."

Mr Barrett's claim is that he was unfairly dismissed after suffering torn ligaments playing football. The driver insists he was advised to take gentle exercise as a form of physiotherapy. Claims by LU chiefs that he was engaged in an intense game of squash are rebutted by him. While they allege he was seen "sweating profusely", he says it was a "boiling hot day" in July.