THE owner of a west Wales car dealership has been ordered to pay more than £26,000 to a female employee after he coughed in her face during the pandemic.

Kevin Davies, 62, who owns Cawdor Cars which is based in Newcastle Emlyn and has five branches around Wales including Aberystwyth, mocked the employee of his car sales and property business in the days before lockdown after she expressed her health fears to colleagues.

The woman had asked fellow workers at Cawdor Cars to social distance from her - as was recommended by officials - because she suffered from psoriatic arthritis and an autoimmune condition.

But employment judge Tobias Vincent Ryan said Mr Davies "coughed in her direction deliberately and loudly, commenting that she was being ridiculous".

Judge Ryan said Mr Davies set out to "ridicule and intimidate" the woman with his "gross behaviour" on 17 March 2020 - a week before the first lockdown was announced.

The tribunal heard the woman resigned from the business less than three months later.

The judge ordered the woman receive a payout of £26,438.84 - with Cawdor Cars handing her £18,000 in damages for injury to feelings and Mr Davies paying £3,841.94 for unfair dismissal and £4,596.90 in interest accumulated.