A Heathrow head chef has been sacked for going home to his young family instead of covering for a colleague who overslept.

Virgilio Teixira, who works at the Arora International Hotel, was forced to leave the Compass Catering kitchen in the hands of an inexperienced chef when his fellow head chef came in two hours late last Thursday.

The Heston father-of-three went home to look after hisone-year-old daughter and six-year-old son so his wife Joana could get to her bar job in Terminal 5 - and was promptly sacked at 2pm

He said: "I don't know what is going to happen. I can't get another jobor appeal until they send me the formal letter of dismissal. I need to feed
my family."

"I can't understand why I am here, sitting at home, and the guy who was late is still there."

Compass's decision to fire the father-of-three has outraged the trade union GMB, which has called it the worst case of disrespect it has ever seen and staged a protest outside the hotel on Friday,demanding he is immediately given back his £20,000 a year job.

Perry Phillips, GMB's Hounslow secretary, said: "This is how much notice Compass takes of all the new family-friendly legislation that the Government has put in place to help working parents."

A statement from Compass said the decision was 'not taken lightly' and followed a previous final written warning issued on October 16, 2007. They claim Mr Teixira did not contact management before he left.