A former general manager of the Bradford & Bingley Sports Club has won more than £18,000 in a claim for unfair dismissal after he lost his job because it rained.

Cliff Dennis, who worked for the club for 11 years, was made redundant after the board of directors claimed the October flood which wrecked the clubhouse and grounds left him with no duties to undertake.

But Mr Dennis, 60, from Silsden, who was a member of the disaster sub-committee appointed to steer the Waggon Lane club, in Bingley, through the flooding crisis, claimed his job was later re-advertised under a new name and he had been sacked for economic reasons.

An employment tribunal in Leeds heard that Mr Dennis, of Aire View, was shocked to be told of his dismissal at a meeting in November.

Representing Mr Dennis, his son, Steven, told the hearing that the first his father knew of the redundancy from his £23,000-a-year position was at a five-minute meeting with the chairman of the board, Kevin Turley, and a solicitor in his water-saturated office.

He said he was not consulted directly about the actions or about a short-term solution.

Mr Dennis senior told the hearing he knew the staff was to be reduced from three to two after the flood but thought the bar manager job would go as he still had duties to liaise with the brewery and alarm company and to deal with inquiries about functions.

"I have always had the club's interest at heart and in the short term I would have been able to accept a lay-off because I consider the general manager an integral part of the re-launch."

Another post of club co-ordinator was later advertised and another person appointed with a £16,000 salary.

Mr Dennis senior said the job was a "carbon copy" of his and that he would have accepted a reduction in salary if he had been offered it.

The club said it was a different hands-on role which encompassed organising the bar and expanding catering for which Mr Dennis was not qualified.

Robin Grover-Jacques, who formerly worked at Keighley Cougars, was head-hunted by the Bingley club and offered the position.

He told the hearing that Mr Dennis was not fulfilling his role and was too involved in the politics of the club after he had raised concerns about the similarities of the role during the interview.

David Cook, a former board member who has now been suspended, told the meeting after the flood that he understood from a fellow board member that all wages and overheads were covered by insurance.

Responding to claims, Mr Turley said Mr Dennis was a member of the finance committee and knew the club was running at a loss and were considering re-structuring, even before the floods caused more than £125,000 worth of damage.

"The main money was coming through functions and the use of bar facilities dried up totally when the flood came in.

"We couldn't afford the position and we couldn't see it progressing as we would have hoped to increase the turnover of the club."

He said nobody knew when the club would re-open or if their comprehensive insurance covered wages.

Austin Newman, representing the respondent, said Mr Dennis had not asked for the issue to be put before the board and careful consideration was given to his position. He said flooding had put the club under threat of closure and they had to look at the financial picture and any consultation with Mr Dennis would have made no difference.

He said they had not taken advantage of the situation and it was not a device designed to dispense with his services.

The panel unanimously found in favour of the applicant saying the principal reasons of the club in dismissing Mr Dennis was to restructure salary.

David Sneath, chairman of the panel, said the club had acted unreasonably in not consulting Mr Dennis about the club co-ordinator role. "Had there been consultation there was a 75 per cent chance the applicant would have accepted."