QAR ASR, I am , in fact, the pilot concerned and the article doesn't quite give all the details; please bear in mind the incident occurred almost 2 years ago !
The 4 earlies were not just the problem; it actually went further than that and included amongst other things, a breach of scheduling regulations, lying about the existence of "ad-hoc agreements" to vary scheduling rules, breaches of human rights, the refusal to follow contracted disciplinary procedures, the refusal to follow ACAS disciplinary procedures, the refusal to acknowledge the validity of a CAA medical and the refusal to abide by the terms and conditions of my contract. If you are interested I do have the full decisions of the ET from the 3 separate hearings. Of particular note is the comment from the ET that " There had been no contributory conduct on Captain Leslie's behalf". I was completely exonerated by the Tribunal. bmi cannot say the same.
As to working more tha 5 earlies, the company I worked for immediately after leaving bmi did just that, however, the duties were all carried out within the rules of CAP 371 and I didn't, and don't, have a problem with that.
If anyone is interested in hearing the whole sorry tale I can provide them with the information;subject to Danny's approval the ET's decisons can be published on the forum as they are freely available in the public domain.
The matter has also been covered by Simon Keane at the Notts Evening Post and by John mitchell and Gary Newby at Carlton TV news. Additionally, I believe the Daily Mail or Mail on Sunday picked up on the report.