A Glasgow firefighter was sacked after he mocked a disabled man he was called out to help - for being overweight.
Christopher Ketterer made 'vile' comments 'degrading' the vulnerable man after he needed assistance getting up off his bathroom floor.
An employment tribunal heard Mr Ketterer and his colleagues were sent to the unnamed man's house at 3am after reports he was stuck.
But the firefighters were 'frustrated' as they felt the incident was not an emergency, the hearing was told.
Once the 29-year-old finished his 14 hour night shift, he then vented his anger by writing a 'shocking' WhatsApp message to his friends and colleagues - which was later shared by someone else anonymously on Twitter.
The message used 'pejorative' language as well as angry face emojis, a panel heard.
He was then sacked for gross misconduct after 11 years in the fire service.
Mr Ketterer has lost a claim for unfair dismissal after the tribunal found he had breached the fire service's values.
The hearing - held remotely in Scotland - was told the firefighter began working for the Scottish Fire Service in October 2009 and at the time of the incident was stationed at Pollok fire station.
In February 2020, Mr Ketterer and his crew were called out to help the unnamed man.
They travelled partly under the fire brigade's flashing blue light as they thought it was an emergency.
Enroute, they were told to change destination to pick up a set of keys from the man's cousin in order to enter the property.
But when they arrived, they discovered the man was not trapped but simply could not get up, a panel heard.
The employment tribunal held in Scotland heard: "Mr Ketterer and other members of his crew were frustrated at being called out over the incident.
"They believed it had not been a genuine emergency and the caller was known from having made similar calls in the past.
"Mr Ketterer perceived the demeanour of the caller and his cousin to indicate that they were trivialising the status of his role and recognising that they were wasting the firefighters' time."
Once his shift finished at 9am, Mr Ketterer sent a message where he mocked the man's size on a WhatsApp group and said the bathroom had smelt like 'shit' with five of his colleagues.
The tribunal heard he described the incident as an 'absolute disgrace' and used a 'number of profanities and referred to the caller in degrading terms'.
This message was then forwarded by one of his colleagues to other firefighter groups and was posted anonymously on Twitter.
The tribunal heard that during his disciplinary hearing, Mr Ketterer explained he had sent the message out of frustration.
He said it "(called) to mind previous similar incidents including some with the same caller, or another where he had to wait four hours with a caller for an ambulance to arrive, or another where a colleague was assaulted", the tribunal heard.
"Mr Ketterer said that the crew had behaved professionally towards the caller. He mentioned the caller's cousin referring to 'getting thefire service out again' in a jocular way"
But Mr Ketterer was sacked in June that year because his message was deemed 'vile' and 'shocking' due to the 'derogatory language'.
After the father-of-one unsuccessfully appealed his sacking, he took the service to an employment tribunal claiming unfair dismissal.
Dismissing his claims, Employment Judge Brian Campbell said: "Mr Keith gave clear evidence to the effect that it was Mr Ketterer's conduct which caused him to make the decision to dismiss.
"That evidence is accepted. The post, which Mr Ketterer to his credit never denied sending, largely speaks for itself in terms of its tone and language.
"It was a wholly inappropriate way to refer to a vulnerable member of the public, which again to his credit he accepted in retrospect."
