Electrician sacked after playing sex sounds on phone during council meeting, claims it was a 'goose honking'
An electrician was sacked after he accidentally played footage of a woman making sex sounds on his phone during a council meeting. He later claimed it was the sound of a 'goose honking.' David West was working for the Redditch Borough Council in Worcester when he was seen "frantically" tapping on his cellphone after having accidentally played footage of a woman having an orgasm during one of their staff briefings.
The loud sound of "three to four sexual moans" coming from West's cellphone went on for at least 30 seconds and understandably interrupted the briefing. Some staff couldn't help but break into laughter as more than 100 colleagues were taken aback by what they heard, an employment tribunal heard. When West was interrogated about the incident, he reportedly created an "implausible story" saying the noises were from a video of a "goose honking."
The highly inappropriate sex sounds rang across Redditch Town Hall at 'full pelt', the tribunal heard, as West unsuspectingly opened the WhatsApp message. And while the tribunal did accept that the footage was played unintentionally and accidentally, it argued that the noise was "fervently disputed."
"During the meeting, the claimant accessed a mobile phone he had with him and opened a WhatsApp message," says a report from the Tribunal of the 29 January 2019 staff briefing. "As a result of this, sounds were played at high volume."
"It is accepted by all that this was done accidentally, and the noise was not played deliberately to the briefing. What those sounds were is fervently disputed," it continued. "The respondent's position is that sounds were of a sexual nature and were the sounds of a female in the act of sexual intercourse having an orgasm. The claimant says the sounds were those of a goose calling and the message was not of a sexual nature although he says, 'it could potentially have been mistakenly misinterpreted as such.'"
"The claimant attempted to stop the sound by 'frantically tapping the screen' and he says in doing so, he deleted the message in its entirety from the phone," the report added. "This is also disputed by the respondent. There was some disruption to the meeting and the noise was heard by some attendees and there was some laughter."
An investigation was subsequently launched by council bosses, who found that no members of staff thought it sounded anything like a goose. Guy Revans, head of environmental and housing property services, said West "concocted a rather implausible story to try to avoid any consequence for what had happened."
West was sacked following the January 2019 incident, following which he sued the council. In his lawsuit, he claimed he had been a victim of unfair dismissal and breach of contract. However, a tribunal held in Birmingham rejected his version of events and dismissed his claims. In its ruling, the tribunal concluded that the sounds were of a sexual nature and not of a goose. It added that West was the only person who thought it was a bird.