Wednesday, May 02, 2012

Killie man sues cops

 - from the Kilmarnock Standard January 2011

A Kilmarnock man who was rejected by Scotland's biggest police force for being colour blind is suing the Chief Constable for sex discrimination.

Graeme McCullie, 31, along with Robin Dixon, 28, from Hamilton, began his case against Strathclyde Police on Tuesday.

Both men applied to join the force and went through a rigorous selection process. However they were told they were unsuitable to join the force because of their colour blindness.

The pair who are pursuing their case before employment judge Paul Cape, claim Strathclyde Police's decision is discriminatory because more men than women suffer from the condition.

Yesterday evidence began in the case, which is being contested by Strathclyde Police. The force claims people who are colour blind could not carry out some police duties.

The first witness was Dr Sushma Acquilla who was appearing as a witness for the two claimants.

She gave technical evidence relating to the number of people in the population who suffer from colour blindness.

But after a number of questions the case was halted by employment judge Cape because the statistics she referred to related to the world and not specifically to Scotland.

Mr Dixon has previously a disability discrimination claim against Strathclyde Police in a failed application in November 2006.

The complaint was rejected by a Glasgow employment tribunal in August 2006 on the grounds it was time-barred.

Mr Dixon then discovered he may be able to pursue an indirect sexual discrimination case after reading of a case in England of a colour blind police officer who raised an action against Hertfordshire Constabulary.



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