Marty Scott with financial support for his family

Hi, my name is Cliff Dalton and I want to tell you of an injustice to my brother in law (Martin Scott) and his young family.

Marty has worked for almost 40 years for Halfords and was the store manager at the Stockton shop.

Two years ago he was attacked in his shop by two men who he caught shoplifting.

Marty initially asked the men to just leave his shop, but they wouldn't. Instead they turned on him when he tried to usher them both out and retrieve some stolen goods that one of them brazenly put in his jacket pocket.

For this action alone, Marty was wrestled to the floor by them both (while still in the shop) and kicked in the chest while on the floor. He was then kicked in the head as he tried to stand back up.

The incident was caught on CCTV in-store and it shows very clearly that if not for the intervention of a couple of good Samaritan customers in the shop at the time, chasing them off premises, Marty may well not have walked away at all from the incident.

But Marty's physical injuries from this attack were still severe.

Two days after it took place he suffered a stroke to add to his more obvious physical injuries, while at an emotional level he struggled to even comprehend what had happened.

Now, two years on, Marty suffers with PTSD; he has trouble with basic cognitive functions, frequently forgets about things that he has done or conversations he has just had.

He is prone to bouts of depression, anxiety, confusion and mood swings. Further scans have since shown that Marty also has a brain aneurism, so his future health prospects remain most unclear on many fronts.

What is clear, though - is that he is not the same husband, father, person, since this attack.

The police are taking no action against the assailants (despite having CCTV evidence), while Halfords have effectively distanced themselves from giving Marty any financial support at all, save some initial sick pay while off work immediately following this incident.

Their corporate lawyers are arguing that it was actually Marty who was at fault.

Their policy in such matters is that he should not have even approached or touched the shoplifters at all, you see (even though another conflicting policy of the company is that store managers may be subject to disciplinary action if their annual stock take shows any marked discrepancies).

So the CCTV footage of the incident is not being used to seek justice for Marty. Instead, it is being used as evidence that Halfords' non-engagement policy was not followed and in so doing, they are abdicating any financial responsibility to Marty or support for his family.

Marty has a 9 year old son who doesn't understand what has happened to his dad while his wife (my sister), who as an A&E nurse in the NHS, is now having to work extra shifts to keep the whole family afloat. They are all destined to be affected by this mindless attack for the rest of their lives.

It has been reported in the news media that Marty has been offered a one off compensation figure of £20,000 by Halfords. This is true, but what has not been reported is the fact that Halfords intend to take off from this figure around £14,000 of sick pay that he received in the months following the attack. So the true award for him is circa £6,000. This is the amount that I am hoping to raise for the family as a more poignant gesture to Halfords that total strangers are prepared to give Marty the same amount of support as his employer of 40 years.

Marty's story has been reported by a number of news outlets recently, with the CCTV footage posted online by The Sun. See the link below.

If you would like to help Marty and his family, that would be fantastic. Please do what you can.

Because nobody should have to go through what this family are going through now - and no employer should be able cast aside any employee in this way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPaxQX6YpYQ

DailyMirror