A former journalist with GMTV has lost her £500,000 claim against the broadcaster over disability discrimination and unfair dismissal.

Louise Port, an ex-girlfriend of former Scotland boss Craig Brown, is expected instead to get less than £500 from the ITV breakfast show - money she is owed in lieu of wages.

Ms Port, 31, who lives in Brentwood, Essex, but is originally from Golspie in Sutherland, claimed that she was sacked for refusing to work night-shifts.

She told bosses she could work only during the day because she had been diagnosed with epilepsy which could be triggered by a punishing schedule of 10 late shifts in a fortnight.

However, her request was refused and she was sacked from her £38,000-a-year job in July, 2006.

Ms Port took her case to the Employment Tribunals Service and, following a nine-day hearing in Croydon, south London, a 38-page judgment ruled that she "made a very substantial contribution to her dismissal".

Judge Heather Williams, QC, accused her of "dishonest and seriously flawed" reporting of her medical condition and added: "She lied to her employer about certain aspects of her ill-health (and) refused to permit the respondent (GMTV) to clarify the medical position with her treating doctors."

GMTV came in for criticism for telling Ms Port by phone that she was being dismissed. She is expected to receive about £450 from GMTV because of a "small procedural error". Ms Port could also face substantial legal damages.

She claimed to have suffered her first seizure in December 1998 after giving evidence in court against another ex-boyfriend, former Radio 1 reporter Philip Mercer, whom she said had beaten her up.

Mr Mercer was cleared of assault by magistrates in Ealing, West London. Ms Port said she collapsed outside court and was taken to hospital.

She said she had two further seizures - one in the GMTV offices in September 2001 and another at home in August 2005 - which led to her being diagnosed with epilepsy.

Ms Port said she loved her job but said doctors warned her against working nights as it could aggravate her condition. She claimed bosses reacted in a "hostile" manner when she told them.

She further claimed to have been unfairly passed over for two day-shift jobs.

Mr Brown and Ms Port's mother, Christine, were among witnesses who gave evidence on her behalf at the hearing.

The judgment accepted that Ms Port suffered seizures in December 1998, September 2001, August 2005 and October 2006 - three of which were pseudo-based (psychological background).

However, it did not accept that she suffered several other alleged seizures.

The findings concluded that she had not established she was a disabled person within the meaning of the Disability Discrimination Act.

It also found that GMTV ended her employment because she was incapable of working nights because of her medical condition.

The judgment said: "If she was unable to work nights she was unable to perform her job as a news producer, given that working nights was a central component of that role."

It added: "It seems to us that an employer faced with the situation that existed in this case is entitled to act as the respondent (GMTV) did and we determine that there was in the circumstances a potentially fair reason for the dismissal."

Ms Port won more than £200,000 in libel damages from two tabloid newspapers in July 2003 over false allegations that she had had an affair with a journalist.

She won an apology, damages and costs from the Daily Record and the Sunday People after they accused her of concealing the relationship from Mr Brown in 2001.

Ms Port and Mr Brown's three-year relationship ended in 2003.

A GMTV spokeswoman, commenting yesterday on the judgment, said: "We are happy the industrial tribunal agreed that GMTV had treated Louise properly."

Neither Ms Port nor her mother could be reached for comment last night.