A club steward sacked for fiddling time sheets has lost his claim for compensation.

Martin Garside, from Burgess Hill, claimed at an industrial tribunal that he was unfairly dismissed from Mid Sussex Conservative Club and wanted his job back.

But the club said it repeatedly warned Mr Garside about problems with his time sheets before an investigation proved he was giving false times when he started and finished work.

The Brighton tribunal heard Mr Garside, who had worked for the club for two years, once filled in the sheets alleging he had worked extra hours on two days when he was off sick.

He also claimed he regularly worked approximately three hours extra on Monday when he arrived early at the club in Burgess Hill to clean the bar cellar pipes. But a check with the club's security alarm system revealed he started later.

The tribunal heard there were problems between Mr Garside and the club. There had been rumours about Mr Garside claiming pay for hours he had not worked and there were complaints about his attitude.

Mr Garside told the tribunal he only continued the custom and practice among staff when filling in his time sheets he had been shown when he started the job.

There were times, he said, when he claimed extra time because he was at the bank or doing photocopying. He had also been told, he said, it was acceptable to claim extra hours when the club was especially busy.

He said: "I was told that some members of the committee were actively seeking my dismissal or resignation. They singled me out and treated me unfairly."

He agreed the club was right to find the falsified time sheets unacceptable but he said he had still been treated too harshly when the committee decided to sack him for gross misconduct.

But honorary secretary Dorothy Angus said: "He was surly, aggressive and disliked by many people. A lot of people stopped coming into the club because of his attitude. The takings were down."

The club denied he was victimised although Mr Garside's deputy was given a verbal warning for discrepancies in his time sheets and was promoted after Mr Garside was sacked.