Sex scandal hits busy London ambulance station amid allegations of staff sleeping with each other while on duty – as paramedic sacked after ‘witnessing colleagues getting intimate’
- Medic Karen Gregory-Carr, 43, told the tribunal she had seen something ‘unwanted’
- She said she found a female coworker performing a sexual act on a male manager
- Bosses accused her of making up the story and fired her for gross misconduct
A sex scandal has hit a busy ambulance station amid allegations that staff slept together while on duty.
It appeared that everyone at the station “had or has some kind of romantic relationship with each other,” an employment tribunal judge said last week.
Doctor Karen Gregory-Carr, 43, told the tribunal how she walked into a back office at Bromley ambulance station. London and found a female colleague performing a sexual act on a male manager.
After she told colleagues what she had seen, London Ambulance Service bosses accused her of making up the story and fired her for serious misconduct.
But Ms Gregory-Carr won a claim for unfair dismissal at the employment tribunal in London last week after the judge ruled she had witnessed something ‘unwanted’.
Doctor Karen Gregory-Carr, 43, told an employment tribunal how she walked into a back office at Bromley ambulance station in London and found a female colleague performing a sex act on a male manager
Ms Gregory-Carr said she saw a female colleague performing a sex act on manager Phillip Sullivan at Bromley ambulance station in London
Medic Ceric Clarke was seen by her colleague in a compromising position with manager Philip Sullivan in August 2022
The tribunal heard there was a lot of gossip at the ambulance station about staff having sex at work, with one staff member describing it as a ‘toxic rumor mill’.
Ms Gregory-Carr told the court she found manager Phillip Sullivan and doctor Ceris Clarke in a compromising position when she arrived an hour early for her shift in August 2022.
Details of the incident soon spread around the station and Mr Sullivan and Ms Clarke complained to management.
They denied Ms Gregory-Carr’s claims.
Romford Ambulance Station Manager James Johnson conducted an investigation for the London Ambulance Service and ruled that Ms Gregory-Carr had made up the story.
The couple admitted they were in a relationship after Mr Sullivan split with his wife, but said they were having tea together when Mrs Gregory-Carr walked in.
Mr Johnson said: ‘We can conclude that Karen did not see Ceris and Phillip in the act.’
However, the tribunal ruled last week that the investigation was biased against Ms Gregory-Carr and that there was a ‘built-in presumption that the rumor was malicious’.
Employment judge Louise Rea said: ‘The panel finds that the claimant witnessed something in the room between Phillip Sullivan and Ceris Clarke which she believed was inappropriate.’
Employment judge Louise Rea criticized the lack of research into the ‘wider problematic workplace culture… in relation to gossip and frequent sexual or romantic relationships being formed’. Pictured: Bromley Ambulance Station, in south-east London
She criticized the lack of research into the ‘wider problematic workplace culture… in relation to gossip and frequent sexual or romantic relationships being formed’.
However, the judge held that Ms Gregory-Carr had committed a gross error because she had not followed the correct procedures, but told colleagues about what she had seen rather than reporting it to management.
A hearing will take place to decide the amount of compensation for Ms Gregory-Carr, who now works for the Metropolitan Police.
She said after the case: ‘This has had a huge impact on my family, children and general wellbeing.’
Ms. Clarke declined to comment and Mr. Sullivan did not respond to a request for comment.
London Ambulance Service boss Daniel Elkeles said: ‘We are very disappointed by the outcome of this case based on procedural errors.’
