A former chief sub-editor has been awarded nearly £21,000 in damages by an employment tribunal after he was unfairly dismissed.

Paul Gray, a self-confessed alcoholic, was awarded £20,971 from Northeast Press after being sacked for gross misconduct from his job as chief sub-editor with the Hartlepool Mail.

The sacking came after he had sent text messages – deemed inappropriate by the company – to a junior female colleague while on annual leave and had been drinking.

They came to light after the recipient showed them to colleagues although she insisted she shared vulgar jokes with Mr Gray and didn’t want to complain. Managers decided they amounted to harassment.

A separate incident, which occurred at an Asda supermarket the same day, had also contributed to the sacking.

The company, part of the Johnston Press group, deemed Mr Gray to be guilty of “a threat of violence towards people” after he was refused the sale of alcohol and made to leave the store. Asda made no complaint about the incident.

The tribunal ruled that Northeast Press ignored its own policy on alcohol and drugs “in circumstances where there were clear procedures to follow and a statement that compliance would be a matter of mitigation against an act of misconduct”.

Mr Gray was denied that opportunity, the tribunal stated.

It concluded that, had the alcohol and drugs policy been followed, he would not have been dismissed but would have received the chance for alcoholism treatment and to mitigate his behaviour.

Management claimed they were not aware that Mr Gray was an alcoholic until the disciplinary hearing, even though there was a note on his personnel file about his conduct and standard of work.

The tribunal pointed out that his recovery from alcoholism had been hampered by his dismissal and that he would find it extremely difficult to find alternative employment, a prediction that has proved correct.

Chris Morley, National Union of Journalists northern organiser, said: “The NUJ has backed Paul in what was never going to be an easy case because it is determined that employers understand the importance of not just having, but properly implementing alcohol and drugs policies.

“If Northeast Press had used its policy, Paul would still have been in a job today.”

Johnston Press declined to comment on this story.