Ms Peggie was placed on special leave after Dr Upton made an allegation of bullying, harassment and patient safety concerns.
The court at the Dundee Tribunal Hearing Centre on Monday heard from two nursing colleagues of Ms Peggie, who both overheard “derogatory” comments.
Lindsay Nicoll, an emergency nurse practitioner at the hospital, went on numerous holidays with Ms Peggie between 2017 and 2024, the tribunal heard.
However, she told the tribunal that she was uncomfortable with some of the remarks made by Ms Peggie in a “Benidorm group chat”.
In 2024, Ms Nicoll said the pair were at an airport when Ms Peggie appeared “disgusted” by a group of women wearing burkas.
Two years earlier, Ms Peggie had shared 10 jokes into the group chat about the floods in Pakistan, concluding the post by stating “sorry if that makes me racist”.
After that trip, Ms Nicoll said she left the group chat and told friends she “wouldn’t be spending time in Sandie’s company”.
She also told the tribunal that at a lunch in September 2023, Ms Peggie had mentioned Dr Upton.
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Ms Nicoll explained: “She started talking about a doctor who had been working in A&E about three or four weeks. She was really angry about the doctor being there, referring to the doctor as ‘weirdo’, ‘it’ and ‘him’.
“I remember someone saying ‘why can’t you live and let live?’ She seemed full of anger and hate about this doctor she had only just met.”
However, during cross-examination by Naomi Cunningham, who represents Ms Peggie, the witness said she was aware of messages in the group chat that alluded to Dr Upton causing “chaos” in a previous job after it is alleged the medic complained about being misgendered by a dementia patient.
Ms Cunningham also referenced a post from Ms Nicoll in the group chat, where she shared details of a patients name and their complaint.
“Do you agree your regulator places some stress on confidentiality, so sharing patient details, chatting about patients by name on a chat like this would be a breach of regulations?”
Ms Nicoll agreed that it would and said she found her remarks “disappointing”.
The witness also admitted that she may have “enabled” Ms Peggie’s views by putting a laughing emoji to her comment that she may be “racist” for sharing jokes about Pakistan.
Ms Nicoll was also forced to deny she was attempting to destroy Ms Peggie’s career by coming forward with these allegations.
“You thoroughly dislike Sandie Peggie, don’t you?” Ms Cunningham asked.
But Ms Nicoll replied: “I am actually really sad about the whole situation. We’re clearly very different people.”
In cross examination, Ms Cunningham accused Ms Nicoll of being “hostile” and having it in for her former friend.
The tribunal heard that Ms Nicoll had messaged a friend about disliking Ms Peggie’s conduct and said that she hoped the nurse was “struck off” from the Nursing and Midwifery Council register.
Ms Cunningham asked: “This is an attempt to end Sandie’s career, isn’t it?”
Ms Nicoll replied that this was not the case and said she felt there was no place for “bigotry” in nursing.
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She said: “I’ve watched her stare in disgust at people walking through an airport in burkas. I’ve heard her calling a transgender woman a weirdo and I don’t think it’s acceptable, no.”
“I think it’s important for people to understand Sandie’s character, the bigoted racism that Sandie is all for,” she added.
“I don’t think there is a place for it in nursing. I think we should be showing people compassion and empathy and respect and I don’t think Sandie does that.”
An earlier witness, Fiona Wishart, who also works as an emergency nurse practitioner, told the tribunal she was “offended” by comments made by Ms Peggie in relation to a mosque being built in Kirkcaldy.
The tribunal heard that Ms Peggie allegedly said she had “a good mind to post bacon through the letter box” of the mosque.
Ms Wishart told the tribunal she “specifically remembered it because I found it offensive”.
Ms Peggie has been recalled and will give evidence in the tribunal on Tuesday afternoon.
Her barrister, Ms Cunningham, appealed to Employment Judge Sandy Kemp to allow this prior to the evidence from Ms Peggie’s colleagues to be heard in order to give the nurse the opportunity to discuss them.
The tribunal will also hear evidence from Dr Maggie Currer, a consultant, who began her evidence on Friday and will discuss a group email with a “need to know” group.
Two additional witnesses have been called by the claimants team. One is Sandra Ross, from the Benidorm group chat, while the other is Emma Ward, an administrator for the organisation Sex Matters, who took a call from a staff member at Victoria Hospital at the weekend.
Ms Ward is expected to tell the tribunal that the caller came forward to report concerns about using a changing room with a transgender person present.
The tribunal continues.