A woman who says she left her job because of colleagues smoking has reached a settlement with her former bosses.

Pamela Hallett, 60, who worked for the Talbot Tool Company in Crowhurst Road, Brighton, for more than 17 years, told a Brighton employment tribunal her working life was made a misery by colleagues smoking.

Mrs Hallett, who lives in Brighton, said she resigned in July last year because her complaints to management were ignored and she was worried about the effect on her health of passive smoking.

She claimed compensation at the tribunal for unfair dismissal, but later agreed a settlement with the company and the case was withdrawn. The family-run firm denied it had failed to respond to her complaints about an unhealthy work environment and accused Mrs Hallett of resigning from her £4 an hour job because she wanted to retire.

The tribunal heard five out of the seven people in her office smoked. Although windows were opened and extractor fans switched on, the smoke still badly affected Mrs Hallett.

She said the problems smoking caused were mentioned many times over the years but she was informed management would never agree to ban the habit in the workplace.

She claimed she suggested different options to improve the working environment, such as a smoking room or even smokers sitting together at one end of the office.

When asked why she had not made more complaints about the problems smoking was causing, she replied: "I am not out to make trouble."

The company denied her allegations and claimed it was impossible for smoke to accumulate in the office because of the steps it had taken to solve the problem, including installing an air filter after she complained in 1993.

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