THE managing director of the company running Southampton TV quit just days after its launch after being warned staff may not be given their monthly pay and they would have to "feel the pressure", an employment tribunal heard.

Group chairman Patrick Trant dropped the bombshell at a board meeting just a day before he jetted off on holiday to Dubai, it was alleged.

Paul Hickman, managing director of the My TV network, said his position became untenable after being told employees may not be paid and is claiming constructive dismissal following the "complete breakdown of trust and confidence".

The hearing was told the firm often faced difficulties in paying its 50 members of staff in Southampton and at Portsmouth TV, but that shareholders would always stump up the cash if needed.

But Mr Hickman said that option was not stated at the board meeting and that workers would have to find the money by chasing up unpaid debtors in just two working days.

Two weeks after he resigned, 13 members of staff were axed because of the severe cash flow crisis.

Seven of the employees won their case for unfair dismissal at a tribunal earlier this summer.

Mr Hickman said it would have been impossible for workers to collect bills owed to the firm in two working days to meet salary costs but claimed Mr Trant said staff would have to "feel the pressure".

He added: "I returned to the Southampton studio office and had to explain to the station manager and the company broadcasting manager that the salaries were not to be paid. They shared my disappointment and the gratuity of the comments and the position we had been put in."

Shortly after he was told the news Mr Hickman told the tribunal he telephoned company secretary Robert Horgan to check what the situation was and was told no contingency plans were put in place to pay workers.

Mr Hickman said he felt he had no other option but to resign.

He had arranged for staff to be told they would not be paid, but just minutes before the meeting was due to take place bosses revealed they would pay the wages, but that they would be a day late.

Mr Horgan claimed it was never said at the board meeting that staff would not be paid and that Mr Hickman had not explained the same reasons for quitting at the tribunal that he did in his resignation e-mail.

He added Mr Hickman quit before the end of the month when staff were due to be paid in October last year so any alleged breach of his contract had not occurred.

The Southampton employment tribunal will make its judgement at a later date.