A butcher who worked at the same shop for 60 years has claimed he was sacked without a pay-off when it closed.
Frank Brown was 15 when he started out at A Donald Ltd in Bothwell, Lanarkshire, making meat deliveries on his bike.
And the 77-year-old has accused owners Danielle and Kevin McMillan of disregarding his loyal service by putting him out of work without a redundancy package.
The company owns another successful shop which continues to trade and accounts filed at Companies House show £388,716 “cash at hand and in bank” on a balance sheet dated March 31, 2018.
Widower Frank said: “If they had even given me a watch or some sort of recognition, that would have been something but I got nothing.
“I remember standing with Kevin as he pulled the shutters down for the last time two years ago and he was saying there would be a payment, there would be a dinner, I would be getting something.
“I didn’t retire, the shop was closing and I wasn’t offered a job at the Uddingston branch.
“At the time, I believed everything would be sorted out and they would do right by me.
“But time passed and nothing happened and it became clear that I wasn’t going to be given anything.
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“I have tried to go through legal channels but that has not worked.
“I have been told I would have needed to go to an employment tribunal within six months.”
Frank, of Bothwell, added: “It just feels like a slap in the face after all these years.
“I worked for the previous owner and the owner before that when I started in the 1950s.
“I ended up as manager and I thought it was always a good place to work.
“I looked after the customers, worked hard and made sure the place was well run.
“There was never a company pension or anything like that, so you would have thought that at least a redundancy payment was the right thing.”
When Frank achieved 50 years of service in 2007, previous owner Marshall Smellie praised him as “the most dependable and conscientious worker”.
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Marshall passed away in 2009 and his niece Danielle inherited the Bothwell business. She brought husband Kevin on board in 2014.
The couple decided to close the shop in 2017 while investing in their other outlet in nearby Uddingston.
When the Sunday Mail contacted Danielle, she claimed Frank had retired of his own choice when she shut the shop.
She said: “We treat our staff very well and Frank was treated very well by my uncle and by myself, and this is how we are repaid.
“He retired, he was not made redundant. He was offered a position at the Uddingston shop.
“I’m telling you it’s not the case that he was made redundant.
“We’ve all the documentation apart from the fact in writing that he was retiring.
“I fully understand how he and his family feel but it’s lies.
“He would’ve been given a gift if he had chosen a date for a retirement do, which he never did.
“He was never told that there would be cash handed over at any point. Never.
“There was never a company pension, the only thing was the Government pensions that were brought in but Frank was too old to qualify for one.
“He was given a bonus by the previous owner, who was my uncle, when he completed 50 years’ service.”
