The Claimant was disabled within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010. He withdrew his claim at the full merits hearing and his claims were subsequently dismissed by the ET. Six months later he sought a reconsideration of the ET's decision, saying there "may have been some unfair circumstances and pressures" that had caused the Claimant to withdraw his case and attaching arguments in support of that application, which referred to some of the documentation in the ET hearing bundle evidencing the Claimant's earlier experience of depression, along with what was said to be a "document of medical depression". The ET refused the application on the bases that 1) they were not satisfied that the Claimant had shown he was suffering from depression or that he had done so at the time of the earlier hearing or in the period during which he would have needed to apply for a reconsideration; 2) there was no direct explanation for the delay in making the application; 3) the Claimant had not demonstrated any proper basis upon which it should reconsider its earlier decision. The Claimant appealed.

The EAT dismissed the appeal. The ET had permissibly exercised its discretion to refuse to extend time for the reconsideration application; in particular, it had been entitled to take the view that the Claimant had failed to provide adequate medical evidence to explain the delay (over six months) before making his application. It had also been entitled to conclude it would not be in the interests of justice to re-open the original decision. On the material before it, the ET had permissibly concluded that the Claimant had not been denied a fair hearing and it was thus not open to him to seek to go behind his earlier withdrawal of his claim.