Two council officers sacked after being accused of sneaking off to make love in office toilets

Two town hall officers have been sacked after being accused of having sex in the showers of a council building.

The pair - a man and woman - were dismissed for gross misconduct after a whistleblower complained to Manchester council, the Manchester Evening News understands.

It was claimed the two officers - one of whom was himself a manager - had been sneaking off to have sex in the showers of a south Manchester council premises.

Although the town hall found no evidence they had been meeting for that reason, the allegations triggered an investigation into their general conduct.

It then emerged that they had repeatedly been leaving their desks to see each other during work hours and were suspended.

Investigators discovered they had been disappearing to meet for half an hour or more on a string of occasions, arousing suspicions.

At least one anonymous whistleblower had reported the pair to management, it is understood.

But when confronted, the two officers strongly denied having met to have sex.

After being suspended while the full investigation was carried out, the two officials faced a disciplinary hearing last week and were sacked for 'misuse of council time'.

The town hall stressed that the sex allegations did not form part of the ultimate disciplinary hearing - which found only that they had been misusing their time at work.

A Manchester city council spokesman said: "We can confirm that two employees have been dismissed following an internal investigation over gross misconduct.

"To be clear, the employees were not dismissed as a result of allegations that have been suggested to the MEN."

Manchester council suspended a total of 162 employees between 2011 and 2013 for disciplinary investigations, according to a Freedom of Information request submitted by the MEN last year.

One town hall insider described the latest case as extremely unusual but similar incidents have been reported in other local authorities.

Earlier this year two members of council staff at Eastleigh borough council in Hampshire were also suspended after a colleague claimed they had been performing 'sex acts' at the council's head office during work hours.