A train worker has been sacked after first class passengers were served sausage rolls taken from a tin.
Peter Duffy, who was employed by the London North Eastern Railway (LNER), was accused of preparing sausage rolls “retrieved from a bin” for first class passengers, which he then served as a colleague.
The incident was reported by another member of the train crew, who heard laughter from the kitchen before the service and later noticed that the bin was empty, despite being told earlier that there were no sausage rolls available as they were disposable.
Mr Duffy claimed he had “gone too far for the client”.
On 7 May 2023, Mr Duffy and a fellow train crew member were working on board an LNER service leaving York, when two passengers in first class asked for sausage rolls.
The colleague who reported the concern said: “Me and a host from standard class were in the kitchen to get ourselves some food when the host who was cooking told us that the sausage rolls had just gone in the bin.”
Later, the staff member reported hearing “a lot of laughter” from inside the kitchen where Mr Duffy and his colleague were based, before reminding them a passenger was sitting nearby.
They added: “A few minutes later one of the hosts from the first class took the sausage rolls to Coach K.
The incident occurred on 7 May 2023, when Mr Duffy and a fellow train crew member were working on board an LNER service departing from York (Simon Calder)
“After I finished my meal I took my rubbish to the bin in the kitchen and this is when I noticed that the bins were empty and there were no sausage rolls in the bin.”
The member of staff claimed that Mr Duffy had taken the food out of the bin before covering it and reheating it.
Then it was said that his colleague from the kitchen served the food to the customers sitting in the first class.
Mr Duffy said the CCTV footage was recovered and appeared to show that food items thrown in the bin had been recovered from him in the presence of his colleague.
The video suggested the food was then covered and reheated by Mr Duffy and subsequently served to customers by his colleague.
Both have been suspended by the railway company pending an investigation into the alleged breach of food hygiene standards.
At an investigative meeting on 17 May 2023, Mr Duffy said he was “a person who goes beyond the customer”.
CCTV appeared to show that discarded food items had been retrieved by Mr Duffy in the presence of a colleague (Simon Calder).
“Kar clearly took them out as there was nothing left for the people in first class but they were wrapped in foil,” he said.
“We were completely done, I just went too far for the customer in my mind.”
He said he suffered from anxiety and depression, was taking medication and was stressed by work but added: “That was me trying to do the best for the client I’m known for.”
A union representative present at the inquest said that Mr Duffy “suffered from a condition recognized at the time, known as temporary global amnesia”.
Transient global amnesia is a sudden and temporary interruption of short-term memory.
Mr Duffy’s colleague denied seeing him take the sausage rolls from the bin and said they were laughing because she had passed out but the tribunal found her evidence was not as reliable as it was likely to be.
Mr Duffy was found to have committed gross misconduct and was dismissed in July 2023.
He claimed unfair dismissal and discrimination at a tribunal in Newcastle in August 2025 but both complaints were dismissed.
In reasons published on Wednesday to uphold the sentence, the tribunal judge said that LNER acted reasonably in deciding to sack Mr Duffy and the actions that prompted his sacking were not something that arose as a consequence of his disability.