A London bus driver was sacked after he chased and knocked out a thief who stole a passenger’s necklace.
Mark Hehir was driving the 206 bus in northwest London on 25 June 2024 when a man boarded and snatched the jewellery from a woman’s neck.
An employment tribunal was told he left the bus to pursue the thief and managed to retrieve the item.
However, the man returned to the vehicle and threw “the first punch” at Mr Hehir – who hit him once in self defence, knocking him unconscious.
He then dragged the man to the pavement and restrained him for nearly half an hour.
Police arrested both of them, but Mr Hehir was later released and told he would face no further action.
Despite this, he was suspended from his job at Metroline the next day and ordered to attend a disciplinary hearing.
Allegations included that he had “brought the company into disrepute by physically assaulting a passenger” and failed to protect passengers by leaving the bus unattended with the engine running.
Mr Hehir told the hearing “he had acted instinctively in running after the [man]” and had left the doors open with the handbrake on.
He also said he restrained the thief as “the female passenger was scared” when the man returned and “he was frightened that the [man] would do something if he got to his feet”.
Mr Hehir told the hearing that the public view of his actions was he was a “hero”.
A police email was also disclosed, revealing the detective constable on the case believed Mr Hehir “used force which was proportionate and necessary in the circumstances in the defence of himself and the female passenger”.
Thief ‘wanted to shake hands’
However, the operations manager who led the disciplinary case, Alina Gioroc, told the tribunal she believed “the [man] returned towards the bus with the clear intention to apologise and shake hands with the female passenger”.
“When the [man] intended to shake hands with the claimant [Mr Hehir], the claimant pushed the [man] away rather than stepping away himself, and that the [man] had not been aggressive until this point,” she said.
Ms Gioroc said she also thought the restraining of the man for about half an hour was an “excessive use of force and disproportionate” and the decision to sack Mr Hehir without notice was correct.
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The tribunal – held in Watford – said the firm was within its rights to dismiss Mr Hehir.
It concluded that “the genuine belief of the disciplinary and appeal managers that the claimant was guilty of gross misconduct was held on reasonable grounds and was within the band of reasonable responses open to an employer in the circumstances”.
A Metroline spokesperson said: “The tribunal has upheld the dismissal as fair. The claimant breached protocols designed to keep staff and passengers safe, which is our priority.”
