A charity worker has launched an unfair dismissal claim after being sacked for inadvertently calling his boss a “twat” in a message that was meant for his wife.Simon Hill found himself dismissed from his role after he accidentally sent the message to his manager, Ben Wheeler, an employment tribunal heard. Mr Hill had been expressing his frustration over an issue concerning a company car, and in the text, he dismissed Mr Wheeler’s explanation for the problem as “bulls***”.However, instead of sending the message to his wife, he accidentally sent it to Mr Wheeler.He later apologised in person, but was dismissed due to an “irretrievable breakdown in trust”.He has now brought a case before an employment tribunal, alleging both unfair dismissal and whistleblowing. Simon Hill accidentally sent a WhatsApp message, meant for his wife, to his manager (PA Archive)The full hearing for the claims is scheduled to take place at Reading Employment Tribunal, Berkshire, at a later date.A preliminary hearing in Reading was told that Mr Hill began working at L T Charity in May 2024. He was sacked in March 2026.In March 2026, prior to his sacking, he discovered that one of the company's cars was untaxed.That was only discovered after the car broke down and the RAC would not come because they saw it was untaxed on the DVLA website.Mr Hill told his line manager, Mr Wheeler, on WhatsApp, and another employee, Karen Williams, by email that the vehicle was untaxed.In between sending the two messages, he wrote a WhatsApp to his wife in which he described Mr Wheeler's information about the reason the vehicle was untaxed as “bulls***” and called him a “twat”.However, Mr Hill inadvertently sent the message to Mr Wheeler instead of his wife.Read more: The WhatsApp messages that could get you sackedHe apologised to Mr Wheeler as soon as he realised, and also went into the office the next day to apologise in person.He also met with the company's HR team about the incident and an investigation began, which led to a disciplinary hearing.The company charged him with inappropriate use of language, disrespectful language and disclosure of company confidential information.He was later told that his employment was terminated “due to an irretrievable breakdown of trust”.Mr Hill sought a review, but the company's CEO upheld the decision.He took claims of unfair dismissal and making protected disclosures (whistleblowing) to an employment tribunal in Reading.He made an application for interim relief – which prevents claimants in tribunal cases from coming into financial difficulty – but his application was rejected.The rest of his claims will be judged at a later date.At the tribunal, Employment Judge Wendy Anderson concluded: "[L T Charity] has conceded that a protected disclosure was made by [Mr Hill] by way of a WhatsApp message to Ben Wheeler on 09:19 and an email to Karen Williams at 10:33 on 2 March 2026."The communications concerned the fact that one of [L T Charity's] vehicles was untaxed and had been so for a number of months."It is [L T Charity's] case that [Mr Hill] was dismissed due to accidentally sending a WhatsApp message to his line manager, Ben Wheeler, at 9.43 on 2 March 2026, which was intended for [Mr Hill's] wife and in which he refers to Mr Wheeler giving him information regarding the untaxed vehicle as bulls*** and calls him a ‘twat’."[Mr Hill] was advised in the dismissal letter that the dismissal was due to the use of the of unprofessional language leading to the damage to his relationship with Mr Wheeler and the disclosure of confidential business information in that WhatsApp regarding the untaxed vehicle."If the vehicle had not been untaxed there would have been no protected disclosure and therefore the WhatsApp message sent to Mr Wheeler would not have been written, but I am not persuaded that a tribunal at a final hearing is likely to conclude that this means the two acts are inextricably linked."He acknowledges that not taxing the vehicle was a genuine mistake. The language used in the WhatsApp is disrespectful and [Mr Hill] accepted that the WhatsApp should not have been sent."