A former Medway Council caretaker who claimed he was let go for his union links has lost his case for unfair dismissal.

Tony Woolley, 49, had worked for the council for almost 20 years when he was made redundant in a wave of cuts last November.

As a steward for Unite he helped three whistleblowers win £70,000 compensation in 2009, after they exposed six-figure sums being wasted by contractor Erinaceous.

The firm changed its name to 3C Asset Management and was bought out by Mears, but is still the council's housing contractor.

Mr Woolley, of Lamberhurst Green, Twydall, sued the council, claiming his exposure of the scandal led him to redundancy but an employment tribunal disagreed.

Ruling that the council's case was "overwhelming", tribunal judge John Pritchard said: "There was a requirement for the council to make emergency reductions of £6 million, resulting in the potential loss of 54 posts.

"We are unable to infer that Mr Woolley's redundancy was influenced or informed in any way whatsoever, directly or indirectly, by reason of his activities [union links or whistleblowing]."

Lawyers for both sides presented more than 800 pages of evidence to the tribunal last month. A panel of three employment specialists heard Mr Woolley applied for a more senior role after he was made redundant, but was "simply not suitable for the job".

During the hearing, Mr Woolley criticised senior estate warden Lesley Jones, who was reprimanded in a council investigation after she allegedly told colleagues an agency worker would be taken on once he had left.

The council investigated at the time and found that several emails had been deleted. However, this did not affect the tribunal's judgement.

Mr Woolley said: "All I can say is I'm very disappointed."

A Medway Council spokesman said: "We are pleased to note that the tribunal completely agreed with the council and found that Mr Woolley was not unfairly dismissed."