If you go online, you will see the bus company Metroline has a number of vacancies for drivers. I’m not the least surprised. Nobody in their right mind would work for that collection of disloyal creeps.
Among Metroline’s bus routes is the 206, which carries passengers between Wembley and Maida Vale in North London. For two years, they employed Mark Hehir as a driver. His record was exemplary. On time and on message.
Then he made a ‘’ mistake’’ in the eyes of his awful management. He tackled a thief who stole a necklace from one of his female passengers.
Instead of embracing him, handing him a bonus and making him Employee of the Month, the company sacked him.
Unbelievable.
The story began in the summer of 2024 when Mark heard a kerfuffle as he was driving and saw the thief (another passenger) grab the woman’s necklace and jump off the bus.
He dashed straight after him and, after a 200-metre dash, grabbed the thief, who decided it made sense to hand over the necklace.
The thief then made a fatal mistake. He should have just slunk back to his hovel, but he came back to the bus and threw a punch at Mark, who did the right thing and promptly knocked him out. Bravo.
Mark then dragged the criminal onto the pavement and restrained him for 30 minutes until the police turned up. You would have thought Metroline would have created a medal for him.
As The Times points out, it’s one thing for employers to warn transport and retail workers not to risk injury by intervening and quite another to fire them when they do.
But sacking Mark the Hero was exactly what they did.
What happened to this bus driver is a stain on modern Britain - Kelvin MacKenzie
|Mark Hehir/Facebook
The story began in the summer of 2024 when Mark heard a kerfuffle as he was driving and saw the thief (another passenger) grab the woman’s necklace and jump off the bus. He dashed straight after him and, after a 200-metre dash, grabbed the thief, who decided it made sense to hand over the necklace.
The thief then made a fatal mistake. He should have just slunk back to his hovel, but he came back to the bus and threw a punch at Mark, who did the right thing and promptly knocked him out. Bravo.
Mark then dragged the criminal onto the pavement and restrained him for 30 minutes until the police turned up. You would have thought Metroline would have created a medal for him.
As The Times points out, it’s one thing for employers to warn transport and retail workers not to risk injury by intervening and quite another to fire them when they do.
But sacking Mark the Hero was exactly what they did.
The day after the incident, he was suspended and, incredibly, at a disciplinary hearing, was accused of ‘’bringing the company into disrepute’’ by physically assaulting a passenger and failing to protect everybody’s safety by leaving the bus unattended with the engine running.
He was then sacked. This feels to me like something out of a Monty Python skit. It was the management which brought the company into disrepute.
Both the thief and Mark were arrested after the punch-up. But the police took no further action against Mark as they decided, correctly, that his actions were appropriate.
Anyway, the case ended up at an employment tribunal where Alina Gioroc, Metroline’s Operations manager, said that she felt ( who the hell is she to be a judge) that restraining the thief for 30 minutes was ‘’excessive use of force.’’
If she’s ever mugged in London, imagine she will be delighted if big-hearted members of the pubic sit on her attacker. Not just for 30 minutes but for 24 hours. There’s a lot of scum out there.
She also claimedhow could she possibly know this?) that the thief was returning to the bus to shake hands with the passenger and apologise. Oh, yes? As criminals always do.
Incredibly, the tribunal sided with Metroline against Mark. I have yet to see their detailed judgement. Apparently, the firm followed due process.
Perhaps he should have turned off the engine, but possibly for the first time, somebody at the company was thinking about the victim of the crime rather than their own well-being.
I imagine that lady passenger really valued the necklace – she may well have had it for years, possibly a family heirloom- and will always be grateful to Mark for bringing it back to her.
Metroline took the opposite view. And they deserve the national bucket of shite which is now being poured all over it. Including an online petition for Mark to get his job back.
That won’t happen, but it would be nice if somebody set up a GoFundMe page, as Mark now works behind a bar and although the job is enjoyable, I suspect it pays less.
The reality is that this country needs a lot more Marks and fewer management idiots like Metroline.
For Mark, I believe there will be plenty of jobs out there more suitable than bar work for a man who cares about doing the right thing.
He is well shot of Metroline, but if you’re an employer in the London area, you might think that he would be a useful addition to your company.
My advice to the current workforce of Metroline is to get the hell out of your company before you have the urge to do something courageous and find yourself looking for work.
Nobody has to work for tossers like Metroline.
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