Gloucestershire police force could face a flood of compensation claims after it admitted illegally rejecting white male job applicants

BBC News:

It "randomly deselected" 108 white men to hit government targets of ethnic and woman officers, a tribunal heard.

The tribunal ordered the force to pay £2,500 to one of the white applicants, Matt Powell, 30, after he took action.

A Gloucestershire Police Federation spokesman said many applicants were considering their legal positions.

Chairman of the Gloucestershire Police Federation, Ian Anderson, said: "I know there were a lot of angry white men in Gloucestershire who were upset about the way they were treated.

"I know they were offered the chance to reapply, but many have now got other jobs and say they would never work for Gloucestershire Police again.

"Others were left very disillusioned.

"I should imagine there is going to be a flood of people reflecting on yesterday's case and thinking about taking legal action."

An investigation by the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) and the Equal Opportunities Commission found the force had unlawfully discriminated on the grounds of race and sex.

Matt Powell, from Gloucester, took successful legal action against the force after he became suspicious when he was told he had been "randomly deselected".

Tribunal chairman Clive Toomer said Mr Powell was awarded the compensation for "injury to feelings".

"We accept that Gloucestershire Police was, at the very least, disingenuous and at worst, misleading, during the early stages of the application," he added.

The force claimed it was under pressure to achieve the government's target, set in 1999, to have 2.8% of Gloucestershire officers to be from ethnic minorities by 2009. The national target is 7%.

In September 2005, only 1.6% of Gloucestershire's police officers were either black or Asian.

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