A guest worker has lost his appeal against the Cabinet for refusing to allow him to renew his work permit after he quit his job at an advertising firm.

Englishman John Patterson arrived in Bermuda in 1998 but resigned from Front Street advertising firm RB&K the following year after claiming the firm stifled initiative.

Mr. Patterson claimed that after he appealed against an Immigration Department decision not to allow him to find a new job he was told by the Immigration Department that he was unable to seek alternative employment until he had worked for two years.

Mr. Patterson said he was only told this after he had quit. He said he was also told too late that he could have cited bad conduct by his employer as a reason for leaving.

And he claimed the decision not to uphold his appeal was affected by his employer writing a damaging letter about him.

He said Telecommunications Minister Renee Webb had told him about the letter which she said weighed heavily against him.

But in a written judgement delivered on Friday Puisne Judge Norma Wade-Miller said there was no evidence such a letter existed and she said there had been nothing wrong with the cabinet tribunal process.

She said Mr. Patterson had erroneously thought his work permit would be renewed automatically.

She said: "There is no validity that the cabinet has breached the applicant's right to natural justice. For these reasons I disallow the application."Mr Patterson's lawyer Victoria Pearman said on Friday that she did not have instructions from her client on whether he would appeal the judgement and she would not comment when asked whether Mr. Patterson had already left the Island.