Height Issue

[dan eire]

hey mate
you should forget nats..they obviously arent a company that will respect you even if you did get taken in for training...why dont you apply to eurocontrol,they offer testing every month and are activly seeking new trainees twice a year..it would do no harm to apply anyway..its an absolute disgrace how you have been treated and you should not take it lightly..
best of luck
dan

[Squadgy]

Hi,

Have you tried talking to Guild of Air Traffic Controllers www.gatco.og ? You may not be a member, but I'm sure they would be very interested in your case and may be able to help.

[Turn It Off]

Why not sue NATS on 2 counts?

Firstly go after them for discrimination because of your height.

Secondly, im sure it was very painful when you hit your head. I assume that as you managed to hit your head that there was no 'Mind your Head sign'. No sign, they are legally liable for your personal Injury - Same principle as slipping when there is no ' Wet floor' sign.

Was the Job offer worded as being "Subject to the outcome of the HSE assesment"?

Refusing you for their reasons appears to me as being the 'height' of incredulousness!

TIO

[hc003540]

Just to update you guys I have taken it to a laywer and we are currently looking very closely at all aspects of the thoughts and comments that where made in this thread.

If anyone has had any joy in contacting any other tall employees within NATS then that would really help at this stage.

And could anyone PM a contact for Prospect that would also help greatly.

Cheers guys for all your support.

Ben

[Turn It Off]

Website is WWW.prospect.org.uk

Hope thats some help, am sure there is a contact us link somewhere.

TIO

[Flap Speed]

This is all looking very encouraging.. keep at it Ben

[karrank]

Let me guess, the guy who made this decision was a twisted looking runty guy, peeved you could see his bald spot? Or did he spot you copping an eyefull of his missus's cleavage (best asset of being tall)?

I can't see why ATC would not be open to Robert Wadlow. Except he's dead, so would require a fairly quiet posting...

I've worked with immensely tall people and fair dinkum midgets here and don't see any distinction between these and 'normal' people in the job. If they can use the bog and reach the buttons they're in.

Sue the barstards, you wouldn't be the first to win.

You'd be an asset on the basketball team too.

[Llamapoo]

Hi Ben;

I was appalled to read about your situation. I would guess (like the others) it's some sort of willful misreading of the H&S at work act and its possible implications.

I was with the HF unit in Bournemouth and I would be surprised if they had anything to do with it.

I would probably go as high with the issue as possible - this is probably just something that someone's got on their mind at the moment and they might be open to some pressure from elsewhere in the company.

If NATS is going to go that way, I still have permanent scars on my knees from the old horizontal radar displays at LATCC and must have slammed my forehead into the top of the door frames at Bournemouth at least 3 times (I can't remember any others) and I'm only 6'5"! Are they going to ban people over 6'4" from working down at the College?

[Fletchers Left Boot]

ah.. so thats why there are dents in the door frame at the entrance to the B block corridor by reception

[Llamapoo]

I can't believe I got told off by the forum code because all I wanted to reply to you was:

[Turn It Off]

Just spoke to a friend who used to deal with discrimation as part of his work, and this would actually be covered by the disability discrimination act, however, Guess wat lovely company is included under the list of exempt companies - U guessed NATS. Might make ure situation a bit more tricky but let us Know!

TIO

[windsock9]

I am sat in my office in the tower right now and i have a nice comfy chair. This chair has a lever on the right hand side which when sat on can be pulled to lower the chair, and when unoccupied, can be pulled to make the chair raise. As i am only 5"8 i have the chair on full height. There is 12cm between fully extended and fully "sunk" (as such) which is round about 5 inches, do NATS not have chairs like these!?! If they did it would bring you down to a good 6"5 which im sure is the height of many ATCO's working for NATS. I feel sick at the thought of the situation that you are in, its utterly disgraceful, especially having been through the entire recruitment process.

Hope all works out for you

[NLM13]

Too tall??

Heard last night that the tallest student at the college is no longer employed by NATS as of yesterday. Could this be linked??

[niknak]

That doesn't bode well for the next tallest person...........

[oct]

height

isnt the head of training tall!!!!

[PPRuNe Radar]

Heard last night that the tallest student at the college is no longer employed by NATS as of yesterday. Could this be linked??

It may also be possible that they didn't make the required standard.

I don't think we should allow people more of a chance to pass just because of gender, race, disability, or whatever. Set the standard (which comes ultimately from the Regulator) and then all individuals are given the same target. Everyone has an equal chance to let their ability demonstrate whether they can make the grade or not.

This is unrelated to hc003540's specific case since he has unfortunately not got to that stage of the game yet. But in terms of ATC examinations I would expect to see him being given no preference, and conversly no prejudice, because of his height.

[EastCoaster]

Ben, very sorry to hear what's happened. It's an absolute crock. Makes me wonder what exactly they were thinking, and where they got this Health & Safety rubbish from? Especially when I know of at least 2 Rated ATCO's in the IAA who are over 6'8" tall, one of whom I trained with and know personally!!

[Sheikh_Yaboody]

Too Tall ??

I can't believe that NATS aren't jumping at the chance to employ tall guys. Think of the cost saving benefits - give them all tower jobs - but don't worry about building a tower

[Wooks]

The tall guy at the college was sacked for being too tall. He didn't fail any of the assesments as far as I'm aware. Unofficially, he had a big arguement with one of the instructors in the middle of a class about vortex wake. From what I heard he wasn't really keeping his head down (excuse the pun). He'd already had a written warning. I only found out about this today, and thought the excuse that he was too tall was a bit of a get out clause, but now I'm not so sure.

[niknak]

So, will tall people be the next addition to the vortex wake table?

If so, what category will they come under?

I know a few atco's who are approaching 17000kg, but none who've actually achieved or surpassed it....