THE former owner of a top hotel has won a claim of unfair dismissal against her previous employers.

Jan Hampton, picured, owned Egerton House Hotel until it was taken over by the Macdonald Hotels company in 2010.

She took the hotel’s management team, made up of Macdonald employees, to a tribunal at Manchester’s Alexandra House tribunal court in April.

Mrs Hampton claimed she had been unfairly removed as manager of the Blackburn Road hotel, which closed in January.

She was also a director and minority shareholder of the Egerton House Hotel Bolton Ltd company, with Macdonald Hotels the majority shareholder.

During the week-long tribunal, Mrs Hampton argued that while dismissing her on the grounds of poor performance, fellow directors James Davidson and Chris Wayne-Wills did not give her the chance to represent herself at a disciplinary hearing.

She was also not given the opportunity to appeal that decision and left the company in November 2012.

Mrs Hampton told the tribunal that her refusal to agree to re-brand the hotel in the Macdonald name is one of the reasons for her dismissal in August, 2012.

She has now received a letter confirming a judging panel led by Judge David Jones had concluded she had been unfairly dismissed.

A second complaint of sexual harassment had been brought by Mrs Hampton but this was thrown out by the judges.

The Tribunals Service in Manchester confirmed the result and Mrs Hampton will now be required to return to the court on July 22 for a remedy hearing where it will be decided what amount of compensation she should be granted.

Speaking after the decision, Mrs Hampton said she had to “put her life on hold” during the process.

She added: “I have been in limbo for two years while we have been fighting this, it has been horrendous, but I have to say an enormous thank you to my family and friends, until you have been rock bottom you don’t realise the support you have, they have been wonderful.

“I didn’t do this for the money, it is a moral victory and I want to restore my reputation after working successfully in this industry for 30 years.”

After not working for the past two years, Mrs Hampton said she was “itching” to get back to work.

Macdonald Hotels said it did not have any comment to make regarding the tribunal result.

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