A COACH driver who realised he was not being paid the minimum wage after watching a TV documentary has won compensation.

Paul McClelland suspected he was not being paid enough while working at Jenson Travel in Pontnewynydd near Pontypool after he saw a BBC Panorama programme about changes to the national minimum wage in October last year. Mr McClelland, 39, from Old Cwmbran, worked as a coach driver at the firm, owned by Gwyn Jenkins, from February 2009 to October 2011, during which time the minimum wage rose from £5.73 to £5.93.

He told the Argus: “I went to the Citizens’ Advice Bureau and got a solicitor.

They then got me a barrister and took it to court.”

The employment tribunal ruled in Mr McClelland’s favour and found that, for certain periods of his employment, he had been paid just £4.76 an hour.

In his ruling, employment judge Wayne Beard said Mr McClelland earned £250 per week at the company, but that his hours often varied with the rate of pay remaining the same.

He said: “On a school term week the claimant would generally work 52-and-a-half hours for £250 gross pay.

Therefore the claimant was in receipt of £4.76 per hour for a normal week.”

He said: “On my findings it is likely that the claimant was not paid the national minimum wage throughout the period of his employment.

“However I have insufficientmaterial to evaluate the number of hours which the claimant worked during each of the pay reference periods in question. This matter will have to be dealt with at a remedy hearing.”

At the remedy hearing, held at Caradog House in Cardiff yesterday, both parties agreed a settlement and signed a confidentiality agreement, paying out an undisclosed sum.

The Argus contacted Mr Jenkins but he declined to comment.