A driver who was unfairly sacked after a government crackdown on the sale of duty-free cigarettes and alcohol in the North Sea has secured a £15,000 payout.

Bruce Mackie worked for a bonded warehouse in Aberdeen, delivering duty-free goods to boats sailing out of Peterhead, Fraserburgh and Macduff harbours.

However, officials clamped down on sales in January this year after it emerged not all of the vessels were entitled to the cheap supplies - meaning his employers suffered a 50 per cent drop in business.

Mr Mackie, from Stonehaven, was forced to resign when bosses at Butlers Ship Stores Ltd cut his hours and pay in half.

He has now won his case for constructive and unfair dismissal at an employment tribunal.

Employment judge Alexander Kemp said: "Whilst they are a very small company, and faced a particularly challenging set of circumstances with the changes to their business... I consider that in all the circumstances there was an unfair dismissal."

Under HMRC guidelines, bonded (duty-free) goods can be sold to fishing vessels sailing to destinations outwith a designated area.

However, officials discovered that not all of the boats buying the cheap alcohol and tobacco were travelling to those areas.

A written judgment on the case states: "Fishing vessels which were supplied by the firm required to sail north of latitude 61 degrees in order to qualify for duty free.

"Technological advances and other changes allowed HMRC to track vessels' movements, and it became clear to HMRC that some vessels did not sail north of that line, and thus were not entitled to receive bonded goods free of duty, but had been doing so."

The judgment adds: "HMRC began to enforce the provisions more strictly particularly from December 2017 and let that be known to the fishing community.

"Fishing vessels which did not sail north of the 61 degrees north line of latitude were informed that if they received bonded goods to which they were not entitled, they would be subject to enforcement action by HMRC."

Officials visited Butlers Ship Stores in January and explained that many of the boats supplied by the firm were no longer entitled to duty free.

As a result of the crackdown, the company experienced a drastic drop in orders, with turnover failing from an average of £119,000 per month to just over £55,000 per month.

In February, Mr Mackie was called in by his bosses and told that the downturn meant there was not enough work to employ a driver full time.

They cut his hours from 40 to 20 per week and halved his salary.

The driver resigned soon after, claiming the company had breached his contract.

Judge Kemp ruled that the company should have treated Mr Mackie's situation as a redundancy and given notice and consultation as appropriate.

However, because they did not so this, the worker was constructively and unfairly dismissed.

The Herald tried to contact Butlers Ship Stores but no one was available for comment.