UK NEWS
Railway worker wrongly sacked for drinking cocaine tea
Inka tea is also known as coca or mate tea and is made from raw or dried leaves of the coca plant
ALAMY
A railway worker was unfairly sacked after he drank a traditional South American herbal tea infused with cocaine that he said aided his digestion.
Paul Glenholmes, a safety specialist for Network Rail, was dismissed after a drugs test showed that he had traces of inka tea in his system. The drink, also known as coca or mate tea, is a herbal infusion made from raw or dried leaves of the coca plant, which is native to South America.
Glenholmes told an employment tribunal that he had been aware that the concoction was not “ordinary green tea”, but he insisted that he had not known its ingredients, having bought it from a market stall in a packet with no label.
The tribunal in the East
