'Hero' bus driver sacked for chasing down thief who stole female passenger's necklace before knocking him out
A ‘hero’ bus driver has been sacked after he chased down and knocked out a thief who stole a passenger’s necklace.
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Mark 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.
He then dragged him to the pavement and held him down until police arrived almost half an hour later.
The men were both arrested, but Mr Hehir was subsequently released and told he would face no further police action.
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A day later, he was suspended from duty and told he was under investigation.
At a disciplinary hearing he was told he faced allegations of “bringing the company into disrepute by physically assaulting a passenger” and that he also “failed to protect his and his passengers’ safety by leaving the bus unattended with engine running and chasing an assailant”.
He said he ‘acted instinctively’ and that he left the bus with the doors open and the handbrake on.
Police said Mr Hehir “had used force which was proportionate and necessary in the circumstances in the defence of himself and the female passenger”.
Operations manager Alina Gioroc told the tribunal that she believed the man had “returned towards the bus with the clear intention to apologise and shake hands with the female passenger.”
She said: “ When the (man) intended to shake hands with the claimant, the claimant pushed the (man) away rather than stepping away himself, and that the (man) had not been aggressive until this point.”
She said restraining him for half an hour was an “excessive use of force and disproportionate.”
Ms Gioroc concluded that each allegation was found, and decided the claimant should be dismissed without notice for gross misconduct.
A tribunal held in Watford upheld Mr Hehir’s dismissal.
It found “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."