A whistleblower who claims he was dismissed as a result of airing health and safety grievances about work practices at a St Albans depot has taken his fight to the Employment Tribunal.

The man, who did not want to be named, said that NFT St Albans, which delivers chilled food and drink products to supermarkets including Sainsbury’s, introduced changes whereby workers had to do more manual lifting.

He alleges NFT, which has a depot at the Riverside industrial estate, claimed that Sainsbury’s had put pressure on management to work to “very tight deadlines”.

The man said employees were “very unhappy” about the increased workload and changed conditions but the company had not taken complaints seriously.

The issue was taken up with the Health and Safety Executive.

But the man was later dismissed and although he has since gained employment elsewhere, he and two other dismissed employees have lodged a complaint with the Employment Tribunal.

Their whistleblowing case is being heard at Watford this week and is expected to conclude on September 27.

A spokeswoman for NFT said that as the firm was currently defending the case, it would be “inappropriate to comment”.