A couple who tried to sue Waitrose for race discrimination by claiming they were sacked over their ‘tanned skin’ have had their case thrown out by the judge .

Peter Hedger and Katerina Dimitrova accused the supermarket, owned by the John Lewis Partnership, of race discrimination when they were fired for taking a long period of unauthorised leave.

When that didn’t work, they tried to amend their case to include discrimination based on sex and/or sexual orientation — but that was thrown out too.

It turns out they were sacked simply for extending their holiday to Miss Dimitrova’s home country of Bulgaria when they should have been at work. In fact, they spent up to two months in Bulgaria while telling bosses they were house hunting in the UK – and failed to mention that they were abroad.

After failing to return following authorised leave in late August 2023, the couple finally came back to work on October 28, by which point managers were naturally suspicious — partly because both Peter and Katerina had developed lovely tans.

As such, the couple claimed that the colour of their skin and Katerina’s Bulgarian background were the reason for them being sacked. Trying it on, or what?

Employment judge Naeema Choudry concluded: ‘It is difficult to fully understand the basis upon which the claimants are putting forward their complaints relation to nationality or national origin.

‘The fact that they were in Bulgaria was mentioned several times in the disciplinary process.

‘The fact that they were in Bulgaria was connected with Ms Dimitrova’s nationality and national origins.

‘However, the reason for dismissal was not due to them being in Bulgaria but because they were believed to be absent from work for no good reason and not to be house-hunting in the UK because they were abroad at the relevant time, having stayed abroad after a period of authorised annual leave.’

What a pair of chancers. Fair play to the judge for getting this one right, but it’s amazing that it even managed to reach the stage of going to tribunal. Surely you would immediately laugh off a claim of race discrimination as soon as you discovered that these two took unauthorised leave for up to two months after their initial authorised leave had expired? That’s gross misconduct and would result in a sacking no matter where you work or what colour your skin is (tan or sunburn included).

Good luck to Peter and Katerina on finding gainful employment after this stunt. Who in their right mind is going to want to hire these two cheeky buggers? Maybe they could try their luck back in Bulgaria.

For the white curry worker who won a racism case after being told “you can’t cook, you’re not Asian”, click HERE.