CONTROVERSIAL former Lye councillor Abdul Qadus has been awarded £8,320 after being made redundant from his job in sales without pay.

Abdul, of Brook Road, Oldswinford, who lost his Dudley Council seat back in 2002 after he was convicted and jailed for passport fraud, claimed he was owed wages and left without redundancy pay after losing his job as a regional sales supervisor at Pareto Marketing Ltd due to financial cutbacks.

The former Tory councillor, who tried to make a comeback in last year’s local elections, told a Birmingham Employment Tribunal hearing he had been employed for six years promoting credit cards at the firm.

The company, which has a branch at Wrexham and a head office in Belfast, failed to attend the hearing - at which Mr Qadus made compensation claims for redundancy pay, unpaid wages, notice, holiday pay and expenses.

Tribunal chairman John Crump rejected a claim for paternity pay because it had not been included on the claim form.

But he awarded Mr Qadus £2,292 in unpaid wages, £1,550 notice pay and more than £3,000 redundancy money.

Donna Causer, a former regional sales employee with the firm, also attended the hearing and said she was waiting to make similar claims against the firm.

Abdul did not wish to comment after the hearing.