Synthetic boots

A traffic officer for the Highways Authority Traffic Information Services, Deborah Allen, was awarded £3,600 in compensation after she was forced to wear unsuitable footwear and developed Achilles tendonitis. She told her employers that she suffered from eczema and that the synthetic boots she was issued with would worsen her condition, and her GP also wrote to her employers. But she was told she must wear the work boots, rather than her own leather boots. As a result her feet became so painful that she could not walk and was off work for three months. The case was pursued by her union, the PCS civil service union, and the trade union solicitors, Thompsons.