AN OXFORD environmentalist today won his fight to take his former employer to an employment tribunal on the grounds that he was dismissed for his green opinions.

Tim Nicholson, 42, has claimed his opinions were ignored by senior managers at Grainger, the UK's biggest residential landlord.

In March he won the right to take the firm to tribunal over his treatment, but the ruling was challenged by Grainger on the grounds that green views were not the same as religious or philosophical beliefs.

Mr Nicholson was told he could take Grainger to a tribunal at a hearing in London this morning.

His solicitor Shah Qureshi said: "Essentially, what the judgment says is that a belief in man-made climate change and the alleged resulting moral imperative is capable of being a philosophical belief and is therefore protected by the 2003 religion or belief regulations."