A TEACHER awarded more than £600,000 after a court found that he was a victim of disability discrimination has written to City of York Council to urge them to take further action.

Philip Grosset, who suffers from cystic fibrosis, was sacked from the Joseph Rowntree School, in York, in 2014, on the grounds of gross misconduct, after showing an 18-rated horror film to a class of 15 and 16-year-olds.

But a hearing was told he made an "error of judgment" in showing the film to the class because he was under a "high level of stress" at work as a consequence of his disability.

Mr Grosset took legal action against the council after claiming he was unfairly dismissed him from his job as head of English and employment tribunal judges ruled in his favour and concluded that the decision to sack Mr Grosset was a breach of equality legislation.

Now he has written an open letter to Jon Stonehouse, director of children, education and communities at City of York Council, urging an investigation and possible disciplinary action against "those directly responsible" at the school and to ask how the council will support disabled staff in the future.

He said: "In November 2016, the court ordered the Council to take a number of actions to support disabled staff. I know for a fact that at least one key action has not been done. What is your plan?

"If you really want to understand what went wrong in this case, then I am very happy to meet you. I am also very happy to be involved in discussions about putting robust measures in place to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.

"I am prepared to put aside any potential animosity and work with you: are you prepared to do the same?"

City of York Council said it would not be responding to the letter but said a previous statement from Mr Stonehouse still stood: “We hold safeguarding pupils and the highest professional standards as a priority in our schools.

“The school’s governing body considered all the information available to it before deciding to dismiss a teacher who had shown an 18 certificate film with scenes of extreme violence and horror to a class of 15 year olds including some vulnerable young people.

“Six months after the dismissal, a doctor’s letter relating to the teacher but not previously shown to the school, was submitted to an employment tribunal and this was used to come to the final judgement.”

However, this council statement "refuses to engage with the facts or the lessons from this case", Mr Grosset said in his letter, which outlines the "many opportunities" there had been "to avoid the current situation", including his raising concerns when his workload increased dramatically.

"If the school had responded to my first health grievance, I would never have shown the film, would not have had to take time off, and I would still be doing my job. The cost to all parties would have been zero."

Earlier this year three Court of Appeal judges dismissed an appeal by council bosses. Lady Justice Arden, Lord Justice Sales and Lord Justice Peter Jackson ruled against City of York Council after analysing evidence at a Court of Appeal hearing in London in April.

They said tribunal judges had been entitled to reach decisions they reached.

Lawyers representing all sides previously agreed that Mr Grosset should get £646,000 compensation if he won.