A SENIOR Kent Messenger Group manager denied a former employee had been "bullied" when he gave evidence to an employment tribunal on Monday.

Neil Webber, the company’s editorial training manager, was responding to Amanda Fisher’s claim against the company for unfair dismissal.

Mr Webber said Ms Fisher, a writer and sub-editor, had no grounds for complaints about the environment and working conditions she experienced before her dismissal.

He said the claimant complained about many of the facilities and the working environment on the desks, including a lack of email facilities, lack of access to the internet and newspapers, and faulty air-conditioning units.

In a written statement to the tribunal at Ashford, he said: "She also stated that close proximity of news desks caused friction between staff, as well as problems of noise, discomfort, disruption, stress and bullying."

Denying he had received complaints of the nature given at the tribunal, his statement said: "There was the occasional request for the air conditioning to be turned up or down but decisions were made on an agreeable basis.

"Noise and disruption are accepted elements within a newspaper office and the level is no different to any other office I have experienced.

"The company made every effort to evaluate discomfort and health and safety issues relating to the workplace and followed close guidelines and advice from the authorities.

"The environment was often a pressurised one, simply because of the nature of the job but I never saw incidents that I would regard as bullying and no one reported any incidents of this nature to me."

Rejecting Ms Fisher’s claim that no "mentors" were assigned to supervise her work and that, as a trainee, she was left "alone and vulnerable", Mr Webber said an assigned mentor was unnecessary because trainees had direct access to managers.

The training manager said he was particularly upset by allegations made by Ms Fisher in an email to one of the other trainee sub-editors that his training programme had not met her expectations and needs.

Mr Webber described the criticism as a blow to his professional pride and contradicted his support for all trainees.

"I had always enjoyed giving something that to many was a 'dream come true' - the opportunity to achieve something they had previously thought was out of their reach."

He told the tribunal that at a meeting he had with Ms Fisher and her line manager Mr Brian Paine in January 2002, she had launched into a "tirade of abuse, denigrating the training and me personally".

Mr Webber’s statement to the tribunal said a dispute arose also over back-pay relating to Ms Fisher’s qualification as a senior. He rejected her claims that he was "determined to punish her financially" because he had been upset by her constructive criticism of the training course.

Mr Webber’s statement concluded: "As far as I am concerned, the claimant’s criticisms of the training programme are entirely unjustified.

"It was a success with all six of the trainees completing it and obtaining permanent positions with the company. None of the other five trainees had any complaints about it."

Ms Fisher, of Selling, near Faversham, who joined the company as a trainee sub-editor in August 2000, alleges she was the victim of bullying and harassment by management and senior colleagues.

She was dismissed in June 2004. She is seeking re-instatement.