‘Hero’ bus driver sacked after chasing down thief who stole passenger’s necklace
A “hero” London bus driver has been fired after chasing and knocking out a man who stole a passenger’s necklace.
On 25 June 2024, Mark Hehir was driving bus 206, which operated between Wembley and Maida Vale in north-west London.
The court heard a man boarded the bus, passed a female passenger, then snatched the necklace from her neck and ran away.
Mr. Hehir, who worked at Metroline for about two years before the incident, followed the man down the street and returned the necklace to the female passenger.
The man later reappeared walking towards the bus, where he threw the “first punch” at Mr Hehir, the court was told.
Mr Hehir then responded in self-defense and struck the man once, knocking him unconscious.
The court was told Mr Hehir then dragged the man to the pavement and restrained him for almost “half an hour”.
Both men were arrested, but Mr Hehir was later released and told he would not face any further police action.
The day after the incident, Mr Hehir was suspended from duty and told to attend an investigation.
At the disciplinary hearing, Mr Hehir was told the allegations included “bringing the company into disrepute by physically assaulting a passenger” and that he also “failed to protect his own and his passengers’ safety by leaving the bus unattended with the engine running and chasing an attacker”.
Mr Hehir told the hearing he had “acted on instinct in pursuing (the man)” and left the doors open and the handbrake on.
The hearing was shown an email containing a case review note from Detective Constable Waddington stating that “the plaintiff used force that was proportionate and necessary in the circumstances to defend himself and the female passenger”.
Mr Hehir told the hearing that when the man returned to the bus “the female passenger was scared” and held her down “because she was afraid (the man) would do something if she stood up”.
Mr Hehir told the hearing that the public’s view of his actions was that he was a “hero”.
At the hearing, it was questioned whether the man returned to the bus to “shake hands and apologize to the female passenger and the plaintiff” and who threw the first punch.
Operations manager Alina Gioroc, who heard the disciplinary case, told the court she believed “(the man) turned towards the bus with the clear intention of apologizing and shaking hands with the female passenger.”
Ms Gioroc continued: “When (the man) attempted to shake hands with the plaintiff, the plaintiff pushed (the man) rather than moving away himself, and (the man) was not aggressive up to this point.”
The court described the man’s restraint for almost half an hour as “excessive use of force and disproportionate”.
Ms Gioroc concluded that all allegations had been established and held that the plaintiff should be dismissed without notice for gross misconduct.
A tribunal sitting in Watford upheld Mr Hehir’s dismissal and said “the disciplinary and appeal managers’ actual belief that the claimant was guilty of gross misconduct was based on reasonable grounds and was within the range of reasonable responses open to an employer in the circumstances”.
