An employment tribunal has reserved judgment in the case of a train manager claiming unfair dismissal after he ordered fans off a football special service taking supporters home from Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

Jack Seyghal, 54, from Kensington, central London, claims he was unfairly dismissed following the incident at Newport station, south Wales, on 11 May 2002.

He swore at me and spat at me during the course of this incident Train manager, Jack Seyghal

He was in charge of First Great Western's 1830 Swansea to London Paddington service, an eight-carriage train which was carrying hundreds of fans after the Second Division play-offs between Brentford and Stoke City.

After the door was opened, forcing the train to stop, British Transport Police were called and they arrived at Newport station with 14 officers accompanied by police dogs.

Mr Seyghal maintains he knew who had opened the door and refused to allow the train to continue on its journey until they were put off the train.

He also closed the buffet car because he was worried about the drinking by some passengers.

He said: "They said they were just having a laugh and the door was closed now and we could go."

"I explained I needed to be sure that no-one had fallen out onto the track and to have the door checked in case it was faulty."

He told the hearing a fan then became aggressive.

"He swore at me and spat at me during the course of this incident."

But the tribunal heard that an officer at the scene later described Mr Seyghal in a report as "a little Hitler who would not co-operate. He did everything possible to prevent people getting back to London and had no idea how to deal with people".

The fans were travelling home from Cardiff

The log, which was read out at the hearing, said: "Jack Seyghal's behaviour has caused most of the problems. I do not know why he is still in the job."

The officer also said Mr Seyghal was "ranting and raving - totally out of it."

Mr Seyghal claims the transport police were uncooperative even though two football fans were taken off the train and five officers stayed aboard for the remainder of the trip to London.

He was sacked by First Great Western on May 28 last year for gross misconduct following a complaint by a passenger.

The company alleges he had failed to co-operate with police officers, behaved unreasonably in ordering passengers off the train and failed to clearly communicate safety information to customers.

However, on Tuesday the tribunal was told that some passengers had confided in the police at the scene that they were frightened by the behaviour of some of the fans.

Chambers

Mr Seyghal is represented by the RMT union.

The union's representative, Kevin Harris, told the tribunal that Mr Seyghal had a clean disciplinary record and that dismissal was "outside the bounds of reasonable responses."

Mr Harris said his client had been unable to find a job since his dismissal.

The tribunal panel, chaired by Angela Stewart, was unable to reach a decision.

Ms Stewart said the panel would return, in chambers, on 28 February to reach a decision.