A systems consultant was humiliated when her bosses moved her to a new job after she became pregnant, an industrial tribunal heard last week.

Amanda Houseden, a consultant at KSE Computers of Chertsey, told the tribunal she was used to driving a 16-valve company Renault 19, but was reassigned to an office job and downgraded to a sports car after becoming pregnant.

'I accept they were entitled to change my car under my contract, but for a working woman 5ft 10ins tall and six months pregnant, it was not suitable. The car was a sports model with hard bucket seats and very low suspension. I felt degraded,' she said.

Houseden claimed that the bonus on her # 25,000 salary was stopped and that deductions were made for her absences due to sickness. She left the firm after her daughter was born in June, and is now working elsewhere, earning # 15,000 for a three-day week - with no company car.

Houseden claimed constructive dismissal and sexual discrimination. She says a male employee would not have been treated the same way for taking similar time off for sickness. The hearing was adjourned until 5 November, when KSE will present its evidence.