A SIGNALMAN on the Carlisle to Settle rail line admitted to his bosses that he was an alcoholic after they asked him to go for a medical.

An employment tribunal, this week heard how 46-year-old Marcus Howard had concealed the fact that he had had two previous periods of alcoholism, including six weeks in a detoxification programme in 1999.

Mr Howard, who worked alone at isolated Garsdale signal box, responsible for an 18-mile stretch of track to Kirkby Stephen, began binge drinking again in August, 2003.

His frequent absences from work led to his bosses at Network Rail deciding he should have a medical, although they had no reason to suspect he was an alcoholic. After he confessed to his drink problem, he was given six months off work to try to beat his addiction before being sacked, the tribunal, in Carlisle, was told.

Mr Howard, of West Garth Grove, Kirkby Stephen, who had 13 years' service, was claiming unfair dismissal and told the hearing that he was fit to return to his job after getting his drinking under control, through counselling sessions and starting on a course of an anti-alcohol drug, prescribed by his doctor.

He told the hearing: "I have never attended or attempted to attend work under the influence of alcohol and I was fit to return to work when they dismissed me."

But the company called him to a disciplinary hearing, at which he was sacked, after the last of three blood tests taken during his six-month recovery battle revealed he had drunk excessive alcohol.

Network Rail's Carlisle Area Signals Manager, Kenneth Harper, told the hearing: "It was not alleged that he had been drinking at work, on duty, but I thought it was clear he had not done enough to help himself recover from his alcoholism to be fit to return to work."

Ian Buckley, Network Rail's Operations General Manager, told the hearing that the signalman's job was safety-critical. He told the hearing he believed Mr Howard had lied to his doctor, telling him he had stopped drinking, and indirectly, through the doctor's reports, had lied to the company.

He said there was a discrepancy between what Mr Howard had told the doctor and the evidence of the blood test.

Giving evidence, Mr Howard said he had completed a course of counselling sessions in Carlisle, and had been prescribed a drug that removed the craving for alcohol. He had signed a consent form giving the company authority to approach his GP, about what treatment he was receiving, but Network Rail had not read the doctor's reports that concluded he was fit to return to work in November. The company had, instead, relied on its own occupational health advisers.

The tribunal panel unanimously dismissed his claim after two hours' deliberation. But its members refused an application by Network Rail's solicitor to award legal costs against him.