Adobe StockA SNP member with a hearing disability who was discriminated against by the party has failed in a legal bid to have an appeal court increase her compensation payout.
Barbara Ann Grigor went to a sheriff court after she believed that SNP chiefs did not do enough to make reasonable adjustments under equality legislation to address her “hearing disability”.
A sheriff awarded her £750 compensation after hearing legal arguments about how not enough was done by the SNP to help her deal with her disability.
The legal dispute stemmed from a meeting of the Coatbridge and Chryston branch of the SNP in June 2025. A court heard how her disability means she can’t attend public meetings.
The court heard that Ms Grigor emailed the branch secretary after the meeting, seeking more information about what was discussed in writing.
The official responded, but Ms Grigor didn’t find it reasonable. She told the branch secretary that she was raising an official complaint of disability discrimination.
This was on the basis that the secretary wasn’t making a “reasonable adjustment” and providing her with “full written details of the meeting”.
Ms Grigor then contacted the party’s administration, who initially told her that steps were being taken to consider what adjustments she needed.
However, a month passed and Ms Grigor said she didn’t hear anything back from top brass in Edinburgh. This prompted her to raise an action at the sheriff court.
A sheriff, who hasn’t been identified, ruled in Ms Grigor’s favour and that the SNP breached the 2010 Equality Act by failing to make proper adjustments for her disability.
However, the sheriff found that the discrimination stemmed from a failure to understand the issues raised in the case, rather than a deliberate attempt to discriminate.
The sheriff concluded the evidence showed that Ms Grigor’s patience ran out before the national secretary could provide her with a solution.
The court heard that when the national secretary contacted the appellant to clarify what remedy she sought, Ms Grigor didn’t engage with him.
This led the sheriff to conclude that the SNP’s culpability was at the lower end of the scale due to the “limited opportunity” Ms Grigor had given it to resolve the issue.
She was awarded £750 instead of the £5,000 she was seeking.
This prompted her to appeal to the Sheriff Appeal Court in Edinburgh.
She told sheriff principal Nigel Ross that his colleague had misunderstood the evidence in the case and should have awarded her £5,000 for her loss.
She also argued that if the original sheriff had properly understood the evidence then they would have awarded in her favour.
Sheriff Ross heard that a piece of evidence considered in the case concerned an email that Ms Grigor had sent to the SNP on August 13, 2025.
The court heard that in this email she said she intended to take legal action.
However, the copy lodged at the original sheriff court action included the words “NO FURTHER RESPONSES” at the bottom.
The sheriff appeal court heard that the original sheriff who heard the case interpreted those words as indicating that Ms Grigor had ended correspondence with the party.
However, Ms Grigor told sheriff principal Ross that the words had not appeared on the email originally sent to the SNP. She said that she added the phrase later.
Sheriff principal Ross still ruled that the misunderstanding concerning the email did not provide a reason for overturning the original decision.
In a written judgment issued on Friday, sheriff principal Ross wrote: “The sheriff did not act irrationally. He was lured into an error by the appellant’s treatment of her own evidence.
“The sheriff reached a logical conclusion on the clear basis of the appellant’s evidence. The sheriff’s decision was not plainly wrong and he did not misdirect himself.
“He was misdirected by the appellant. No remedy is available at appeal.
“The appeal is refused.”
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