Dismissed due to an altercation outside of work

A few days ago I was informed that I was being dismissed during a formal meeting which they are classing as 'gross misconduct'

This was with no written warning, no option of a transfer to another store, and no option of changing my working days to avoid the other staff members involved


The event happened outside of work on a night out,
I ended up punching one of the lads giving him a black eye, he tripped me onto the floor after it
and apparently I shouted something at him as I wasn't fully aware I was after doing something while I was down on the floor
these were the two grounds for dismissal



He complained along with his girlfriend - (who was an ex of mine) and they had one witness

I never denied doing it, and admitted to the whole thing during the investigation and co-operated with every question to the full extent that I could remember

The investigation itself went on for four weeks to gather statements and resulted in me being suspended with pay but with a total communications ban from all other staff, not just those involved

I'd never had any disciplinary actions or warnings before this event,
and on the documents they crossed out the option stating that the investigation "could lead to dismissal as you are on a final warning"





The situation revolves around the girl who I'd been seeing in private for nearly two years until she moved onto him.

The lad involved had been one of my best friends for almost two years, until he started going out with her, they totally froze me out as a friend which was also hard to deal with


He'd been making things very hard for me in work since then, which I'd raised with two managers but nothing was ever done about it,



He turned from being one of my best friends into a total coward about the situation and refused to try and talk things through with me when he knew how hurt I was over all this

I fell into a bad spell of depression over the last few months, as under normal circumstances this would be a very hard situation to deal with but with us having to work the same shifts, I felt really helpless and snapped on that night



Even in the final meeting, I reminded them of the issues I'd raised but they were dismissed as speculation with no way of proving anything


I felt the whole situation was handled badly by management, the investigation dragged on and the four weeks suspension and the communications ban were a punishment in itself



My questions are:

Would I be wasting my time going through the internal appeals process with my former employer? - as I feel they won't change their mind

Do I have any leverage to an external appeal via NERA?

Could the suspension and communications ban be considered a form of punishment?

Would the fact they crossed out the option "could lead to dismissal as you are on a final warning" on every page of every meeting be used in my advantage?

Could the fact that it was a preventable situation if management had intervened and sat the two of us down to sort out our differences at any point over the past 6 months? - it had been well known by everyone working there

If I lose the appeal, how much would it cost me? - I'm already broke as it is, and won't be entitled to SW payments for 9 weeks