Steward withdraws Dennis racism claim

Eurosport - Wed, 14 Jan 13:54:00 2009

A former air steward apologised to Ron Dennis at an employment tribunal after withdrawing accusations of racism and homophobia against the McLaren boss.

FORMULA 1 Ron Dennis - 0

Dennis was accused by Peter Boland, who worked on his private jet between 2002 and 2007, of saying he needed to wash his hands "because I've been shaking hands with Arabs all day".

Boland, 27, sued Dennis, McLaren and two other companies linked to him for £100,000 over unfair dismissal and victimization.

Boland said that Dennis had also circulated rumours he was homosexual, which he denied.

"I unreservedly apologise to Mr Dennis and all respondents, and to the Southampton Employment Tribunal, for wasting their time with what I now realise were unfounded allegations," Boland said in a statement.

Dennis stated: "This case has been hurtful, irritating and unnecessary, in the sense that no impropriety ever took place, which fact Mr Boland now concedes.

"Equally, Mr Boland accepts that I have never said or done anything either racist or homophobic."

Briton Lewis Hamilton, Formula One's first black driver, won the World Championship with Mercedes-powered McLaren last year.

Dennis and his Saudi business partner Mansour Ojjeh each own 15 per cent of McLaren, while Bahrain's Mumtalakat holding company have a 30 per cent stake.

Reuters

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  1. Sound like the proverbial out-of-court settlement. Either that, or he got a new boyfriend. LOL

    From pHilo, on Tue 13 Jan 6:23PM

  2. adownunder - where is the proof for that statement of yours or have you just made it up like Mr. Boland?

    "Mr Dennis told the hearing he sacked Mr Boland after five years in the job because he was 'incompetent' and his attitude and punctuality were unsatisfactory.
    The tribunal heard the steward had 'nodded off' onboard the Challenger 604 plane in April 2007 and been rude to guest Sheikh Mohammed, a member of the Bahrain royal family.
    Rather than going through a formal disciplinary process Mr Dennis said he offered Mr Boland an £8,000 settlement and a positive reference so his CV would be unblemished."

    So what does he do? Makes up a pack of lies to get his moment in the media.

    Ron tried to be as good as possible for this man but was stabbed in the back.

    From Grey Scale, on Tue 13 Jan 6:01PM

  3. Mr Boland got paid a large sum off money to reverse his desicion funny how karma swings around though before he was attacking Max Mosley and now he went through the same ordeal as himself

    From adown, on Tue 13 Jan 5:40PM
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