‘Hero’ bus driver says he wants apology after he was sacked for hitting thief

More than 100,000 people have signed a petition to support Mark Hehir, 62, who was sacked after he chased a thief who stole a passenger’s necklace before knocking them out in self-defence when they returned.

Mr Hehir, who worked in north-west London but is originally from Limerick, Ireland, said the support from the public has been “incredible” since an employment tribunal upheld Metrolink’s decision.

“I’d be very happy if Metroline made an apology and just admitted that they might have got it wrong.

“I’d like them to compensate me for lost earnings, that’s important, that they understand they got it wrong, that’s important for me,” he said.

Read more: Thousands raised for hero bus driver who chased down and punched thief - as petition launched for him to get his job back

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Asked if he would accept his job back, Mr Hehir said: “Absolutely not, you cannot work for a company that treats its staff like that.

“I’m not saying they treat the drivers bad, I’m just saying if anything does happen, it’s always the driver’s fault, they’ll come down on you heavy.

“You’re on your own, you’ve created a situation, now you get out of it, there’s no help.”

Mr Hehir was driving the 206 bus in June 2024 when a man got on, snatched a necklace off a woman’s neck and ran off.

Mr Hehir, who had worked for bus firm Metroline for about two years, chased the man down and took the necklace back. But the man followed him back to the bus and "threw the first punch" at Mr Hehir, a tribunal heard.

Mr Hehir responded in self-defence, hitting the man once and knocking him out.

The former bus driver called into LBC's Tom Swarbrick at Drive to share his side of the incident.

Mr Hehir said: "They wait for these people just to keep their guard down and they strike. And I wasn’t going to allow it."

He continued: "We had a bit of a scuffle. He wasn't getting away, so he handed me back the necklace."

Mr Hehir, who described driving a bus as “an underpaid tough job”, said the support he has received online has been “incredible” but he does not think of himself as a “hero”.

“I’ve always felt I was justified in my actions, and it just seems that 99.5% of people agree with me,” he said.

“I’m actually looking for negative responses, and I just can’t find any, I mean, everywhere there’s thousands of messages.”

An online petition calling for Mr Hehir to be reinstated or compensated, launched by shadow justice minister Dr Kieran Mullan, has gained more than 100,000 signatures.

A GoFundMe page for Mr Hehir has raised more than £20,000.

He said that after the 2024 incident “I spent six days in hospital, because I got an infection from the guy’s tooth.”

“I ended up in ICU, I had two operations on my hand because of the infection, I was very, very close to losing my hand, I quote the surgeon, probably in the next three days if I didn’t get it seen to at the time.”

Mr Hehir added: “Even in that time I was still employed by the company, not one person from the company, HR or anyone else, rang me to ask how I was, and I thought that was a disgrace.”

He added: “Now I did get some help from the union, but that can only go so far.”

Mr Hehir, who currently works in a bar, said he was in bed when his story went online: “I didn’t know what was going on, but then my phone just started popping, going crazy.”

Politicians have backed the former bus driver with shadow justice minister Dr Kieran Mullan, shadow transport minister Richard Holden and Susan Hall, the leader of the Conservative group on the London Assembly, writing to Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan to demand “serious consideration of reinstatement or appropriate compensation”.

Former prime minister Boris Johnson wrote on X: “The sacking of a hero bus driver for knocking out a necklace thief says it all about the wet, woke, legalistic pettifoggers who run Starmer’s Britain.”

Reform UK MP Robert Jenrick posted on X: “Metroline should reinstate Mark and apologise for their disgraceful conduct.”

A Metroline spokesperson said: “The tribunal has upheld the dismissal as fair.”