Three York dinner ladies were heading for an employment tribunal today as a long-running pay dispute came to a climax.

Maxine Ross, Pauline Barker and Barbara Powell were due to attend a four-day hearing involving North Yorkshire County Council and private contractor Castleview.

Maxine Ross said the case related to a House of Lords legal ruling over equal pay for dinner ladies in 1995.

Under that ruling, 1,300 dinner ladies sacked by the county council in 1991 were awarded compensation after being re-employed by council caterers on lower wages, fewer holidays and less sick pay than men.

The case today is understood to have implications for about 100 dinner ladies in York and across North Yorkshire.

Updated: 11:35 Tuesday, June 26, 2001