A Tube driver who put up a poster of the Queen at work has been suspended after a colleague accused him of creating a ‘hostile’ environment.
London Underground has removed the framed A4 image and another picture on a desk from an Essex depot while they investigate the complaint, it has been revealed today.
The suspended driver’s union today criticised the ‘bizarre’ suspension and want it reversed.
But the Central Line worker who complained said the issue was also about wider allegations of bullying and intimidation.
The A4 picture of the Queen and a smaller portrait were removed on Friday, after a year on display.
It is understood that the two drivers had repeatedly clashed over the images because they had ‘vastly differing political allegiances’, a source told the Evening Standard.
They are also members of rival unions, the suspended driver is an Aslef member while the complainant is a RMT member.
The latter has said the stress of the case has forced him to take sick leave.
‘I’ve had a lot of time off work with stress with threats made against my family and my home. It’s been rumbling on for a couple of years but the London Underground have said I can’t say anything,’ he told the Standard.
The suspended staff member’s union organiser, Finn Brennan said today the driver denied all allegations of harrassment.
‘It is extraordinary that a public corporation under the control of Boris Johnson is instructing staff to remove photographs of the Queen. We have written to the company to ask them for an immediate investigation and for this bizarre decision to be reversed,’ he told the Standard.
