AN AMAZON worker says he was accused of “skiving” and sacked after claiming he suffered an epileptic attack and stroke during a night shift.

West Fife man Joseph Hudson (48) claims his bosses thought he had fallen asleep on the job but claims that when he went to Queen Margaret Hospital later the out-of-hours GP confirmed it had been a severe epileptic attack.

However, when Mr Hudson phoned his work as he recovered at home he was told he had lost his job as he was over the points limit for days off.

A letter from the out-of-hours GP at Queen Margaret Hospital on the day of the incident stated, “This certifies that the above attended here today with a history of what I believe to have been an epilepsy attack through the night.

“This was a much more severe attack than previously. I am not clear why this is so and the situation is to be discussed with the specialist epilepsy services. He will have to be off work a few days and will be contacting his GP for a sick note.” Dad-of-two Mr Hudson, who previously served in the RAF, had started his job as a stock-checker last September employed through an agency and claimed he had made them aware of his medical condition.

He took ill at around 4am during a night shift and came around leaning on shelving. He said, “Afterwards I didn’t know what had happened. I was disorientated and unsure of my faculties. I had tingling and pain in my extremities and a piercing sensation at the side of my skull.

“I simply could not explain what had happened but came to believe that I had had a seizure of some description or a series of them one after the other.” However, Mr Hudson was summoned by his team leader. “The team leader accused me of skiving,” he said. “I told him I honestly wasn’t sure what had happened. He went to the agency folk and told them I was skiving.

“No way was I asleep. No way would I have conked out like that. The break had been from 2.30 to three o’clock and I’d just finished a full English breakfast and a big cup of hot chocolate. That gives you the energy to get you through the last couple of hours.

“The doctor thinks it was a mini-stroke plus epilepsy but there’s no way of saying what it was 100 per cent.” In the days afterwards, Mr Hudson says he continued to experience tingling in his fingers, balance problems, disorientation, chest pain and slurring of speech.

“I was speaking to a friend on the phone five days afterwards and I was slurring my speech even though I wasn’t aware I was doing it. It took about two weeks for my speech to completely recover.” Mr Hudson said his employers knew all about his health issues. “I was completely open with them about it. I told the agency and my team leader. Before you start you fill in an extremely extensive medical questionnaire. I gave full details of my medication so they knew.” Two days after the incident Mr Hudson phoned his work and claims, “I was just binned with no reference to what had happened.

“You get points if you’re off and there’s zero consideration. I was really ill and I was now also extremely angry.

“I was disgusted with the way I was treated. I wouldn’t go back there and I wouldn’t advise anybody with any long-term condition or disability to go there because they’re going to be treated like dirt.” The incident happened seven months ago and Mr Hudson says his medication dose has been doubled since the attack.

A spokesman for Amazon said, “Like most companies, Amazon has fair and predictable systems to record employee attendance and performance. We have a long-standing policy of not commenting on any individual who has worked at Amazon.”