London bus driver sacked after chasing and punching thief who stole from passenger
A ‘hero’ London bus driver who ‘instinctively’ caught and restrained a thief who stole from one of his passengers has been sacked.
Mark Hehir was driving the 206 bus between Wembley and Maida Vale in June 2024 when a man boarded the bus, snatched a necklace from around a woman’s neck before running off.
Mr Hehir, who worked for Metroline for two years, chased after the thief and returned the necklace to the female passenger.
But because he left the bus engine on while chasing ater the man, Me Hehir faced a disciplinary hearing where he was told he brought the company into ‘disrepute’.
The man then reappeared where he threw ‘the first punch’ at Mr Hehir, the tribunal was told.
Mr Hehir then responded in self-defence and hit the man once – knocking him unconscious.
He dragged the man to the pavement and restrained him for almost ‘half an hour’.
Although both men were arrested, Mr Hehir was released and was told he would face no further police action.
But the day after the incident, the bus driver was suspended from duty and told to attend an investigation.
At a disciplinary hearing, he was accused 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’.
Mr Hehir told the hearing that ‘he had acted instinctively in running after the (man)’ and that he had left the doors open and the handbrake on.
A police report defended Mr Hehir, saying ‘the claimant had used force which was proportionate and necessary in the circumstances in the defence of himself and the female passenger’.
Mr Hehir told the hearing that when the man returned to the bus ‘the female passenger was scared’.
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He explained held him on the ground as ‘he was frightened the man would do something if he got to his feet’.
Mr Hehir told the hearing that the public’s view of his actions was that he was a ‘hero’.
The hearing questioned whether the man returned to the bus to ‘shake hands and apologise to the female passenger and the claimant’.
They also questioned who threw the first punch.
Alina Gioroc, an operations manager who heard the disciplinary case, told the tribunal that she believed ‘that the (man) returned towards the bus with the clear intention to apologise and shake hands with the female passenger’.
Ms Gioroc continued: ‘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 found the restraining of the man for almost half an hour to be an ‘excessive use of force and disproportionate’, the tribunal heard.
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 and said ‘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’.
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