Halfords was forced to launch an internal investigation after a former worker said two of his colleagues made offensive remarks and shared a racist meme on WhatsApp.
Alan Wainwright claims he was sacked after raising his concerns with the company.
Mr Wainwright told The Independent he overhead two senior colleagues calling members of the Traveller community “p*keys” and shared a meme of the Pakistani businessman and his son who died in the Titan submarine disaster.
This follows an employment tribunal earlier this year, in which a former Halfords employee argued that he was discriminated against on the grounds of his ethnicity. Christopher Best won the case and was awarded £5,000 for “injury to feelings”.
In response to this latest incident, Halfords said: “We investigated these allegations thoroughly and took immediate action.
“We have robust policies in place and the colleagues involved have been required to repeat our equality and diversity training module.”
Mr Wainwright also wrote to the Halfords Group CEO Graham Stapleton but has yet to receive a response.
Halfords denied Mr Wainwright was unfairly dismissed, saying: “Alan Wainwright was dismissed during his probation period for failing to follow the proper process with regard to absences on two separate occasions.”
Source: The Independent