Forex trading store

The former chief executive of Brixton blamed the company’s chairman yesterday for escalating a row that led to his dismissal.

Tim Wheeler said that Lady Patten, chairman of the industrial property group, had reacted in an aggressive and erratic manner when he tried to discuss a shortfall in his pension and that she had prevented him from putting his concerns to other board members.

Mr Wheeler, who is suing Brixton for unfair dismissal, told the London Central Employment Tribunal that Lady Patten had described him repeatedly to other board members as “yesterday’s man” and that he was dismissed for “no good reason”.

Mr Wheeler was speaking publicly about the dispute for the first time since his dismissal in March last year. His account of his final months in control of Brixton differs sharply from that of his former lieutenants, one of whom gave evidence against Mr Wheeler during the morning session yesterday.

Peter Dawson, Brixton’s former investment director who succeeded Mr Wheeler, 51, as chief executive, said that his predecessor had been a “rude” and “autocratic” boss who became so preoccupied by his settlement after announcing his intention to retire that he put the company at risk when commercial property prices were plummeting.

Brixton was bought by Segro, a rival property group, in June last year. Mr Wheeler ran the company from 2000 and had, by his account, long planned to retire in his early fifties.

At the end of 2008, he informed his fellow directors of his intention to step down in summer 2009 but to stay on as a part-time adviser for up to two years. Relations with the board soured after Mr Wheeler claimed that he was entitled to a bigger pension payout because of the company’s failure to adjust to new rules introduced in 2004.

Mr Wheeler, who lives in Buckinghamshire, continues giving evidence today and the hearing is likely to finish tomorrow.