witness appeal

[scu11y69]

i have a dismisall appeal tommorrow i asked a supervisor to come with me as his statment is vital in my appeal and he is a key witness on my behalf .he agreed to come with me if the manager released him from his shift which was refused.the manager said he had already made a statment and that was good enough i told the hr person to which they said they would sort it now the hr tell me that the superviser dosent want to come .im now thinking managment have changed his mind for him as every time i spoke with him he agreed with me and even said mangement wrote his statment for him and set him up basicaly
so can i summon this person as a witness as i feel he has evidence which helps my case and was not even considered before i was dissmissed
any advice welcome many thanks

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, I have to go into a meeting, but will come back to you as soon as I can. As your hearing is tomorrow it would be a good idea to ring ACAS on 08457 47 47 47, in case we can't get back to you before close of play today.

[paulgmb]

I know it is late in the day but put it in writing that you want this person present both to HR and the appeal chair (whoever is hearing your appeal) try and get your colleague to confirm what he said to you about being willing to attend but not being released.
As a last resort, during the appeal meeting state that you want your colleague to be called and ask them to go and get him/her. It will be interesting to see their reaction. Insist that he is called into the hearing to either answer questions or say of his/her own free will that they do not want to take part, in front of everyone. Make sure whoever is taking notes minutes it. Be aware though that he might be telling you one thing and your HR/management the other. This should flush them out though.
The important thing is to gather as much evidence as possible. If you are not in a Union and have a Rep with you, try and get a colleague to come in as a witness and/or take notes.
Best of luck,
Paul