LUMBY: ‘I MUST HAVE TOUCHED THEIR BOTTOMS BY ACCIDENT.’
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General Pharmaceutical Council/matt nicholls
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10 November 2011
now with pix of lumby
accident…1
A pharmacy manager accused of groping three colleagues’ bottoms insisted he must have done so ‘by accident.’
Andrew Lumby is said to have fondled the staff members on several occasions after bombarding them with sexual remarks.
He complimented them on their ‘wangers’ and ‘juicy jugs’, gave graphic descriptions of his manhood and even offered to ‘ravish’ one colleague, the General Pharmaceutical Council has heard.
But Lumby claims the bulk of the allegations against him have been fabricated by disaffected staff members unhappy with his management style.
Giving evidence, he insisted the cramped conditions at the Co-op Pharmacy in Caerleon, near Newport, south Wales, had been to blame for the groping accusations.
‘I’ve been told by the regional manager that the dispensary is inappropriately designed,’ he told the panel.
‘Members of staff bump into each other all the time. They just brush past each other.’
He added: ‘I certainly wouldn’t slap anybody’s bottom because I don’t like people slapping my own bottom.’
Lumby has admitted making inappropriate remarks to some of the staff members and said he was ‘deeply sorry’ for any upset caused.
He said he had only qualified in 2007 and added: ‘I hadn’t had much experience of dealing with staff.’
Earlier, pharmacy technician David Reardon said Lumby had behaved like a teenager during his time at the pharmacy between mid-June 2009 and October last year.
‘If I came in after the weekend he would regularly ask me If I got my leg over,’ he said.
‘If I went to my mum’s house for Sunday lunch he asked if I had a good stuffing.
‘It was just like when I used to work in teaching.
‘It was like having teenagers around who have just learned new words.
‘I wasn’t impressed and I felt quite embarrassed, to be honest.’
Trainee Sian Williams told the panel she had been on the receiving end of many of Lumby’s sexual remarks.
‘He used to ask me what sort of knickers I had on,’ she said. ‘Did I have a thong on.
‘Once he walked past me and smacked my bottom and another time he said to me: “Alright, firm bottom”.
‘Once I was hoovering and he said, “You can see Sian knows how to hold a hose”.
‘One day I was so upset I went home crying.’
Lumby is facing a misconduct hearing before a GPC panel in central London.
He has admitted telling one member of staff a delivery driver would like to ‘give her one’ and asking Mr Reardon whether he had got his leg over at the weekend.
He has also admitted a charge alleging he ‘made comments about the breast sizes of female members of staff and referred to their breasts as “wangers” and “juicy jugs”‘.
But he denies asking Mr Reardon if he had enjoyed ‘a good stuffing’ and making a remark about his eye infection, saying Mrs Williams knew ‘how to hold a hose’ and offering to ravish Mrs Campbell.
He also denies a charge stating he ‘commented on the state of his genitalia depending on the prevailing weather conditions’, touching three staff members’ bottoms and snapping Mrs Williams’ bra strap.
Lumby further denies that his behaviour was sexually motivated.
If found guilty of misconduct he could be kicked out of the profession.
The hearing continues.
ends
