Bus driver sacked after chasing thief

[croyde]

Another FFS! story.

He ran after a scrote who had nicked a passenger's necklace. Got it back but the scrote came back to the bus and apparently threw a punch, so the bus driver defended himself and then held him until the police came.

Police haven't prosecuted him. Scrote claimed that he returned to the bus to apologize, yeah right!

He's been fired for assaulting a 'passenger'.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp376n7k0g9o

[milesgiles]

Story I read was nonsensical I’m definitely on the bus drivers side if anyone finds a gofundme post it

[GadgeS3C]

The piece ran in the Times too.

The comments were almost unanimous that the bus company has brought itself into disrepute by how it'd treated him.

[JQ]

Said bus driver phoned in to an LBC phone in about him!!! Also contains a Gofundme link.

https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/hero-bus-driver-thou...

[croyde]

He should get a medal and a pay rise. Won't happen

He's gone well above his care for customers. I'm toying with being a bus driver but I'll be staying behind my plastic shield even if the school kids haven't got their zip cards.

As the other poster said, I hope there's a GoFund thing as I'd bung in some money.

No doubt it was the HR dept at his company looking for some way to justify their existence.

[milesgiles]

JQ said:

Said bus driver phoned in to an LBC phone in about him!!! Also contains a Gofundme link.

https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/hero-bus-driver-thou...

Cheers done

I’d have donated more if he’d punched him twice

Edited by milesgiles on Friday 30th January 09:56

[Countdown]

On the one hand this sounds like extreme stupidity from the Bus Company.

However....it looks like an Independent Tribunal upheld the Company's decision so maybe there's more to it than we know?

However having recently been the victim of 2 unbelievably stupid ET decisions just because the Tribunal thought the sacking was fair doesn't actually mean it was IMHO

[ChocolateFrog]

milesgiles said:

Story I read was nonsensical I m definitely on the bus drivers side if anyone finds a gofundme post it

Part of me thinks there must be more to the story but why wouldn't they say so.

Police said his response was proportionate too.

I'd put a few quid in to a GFM.

[Gargamel]

croyde said:

No doubt it was the HR dept at his company looking for some way to justify their existence.

No need to throw HR under the Bus.

[swisstoni]

In the strict terms of the employment tribunal he was probably 'done' for leaving his bus.

In the real world, Metro buses will rightly get terrible PR for deciding to sack him in the first place.

[steveo3002]

its just everything wrong in the uk isnt it

i have to fight my instinct to get involved with anything these days as you just know it will backfire in your face and make hell for you

[croyde]

First GoFund I've ever donated to.

Stupid rules that have turned the population into sheep that are easily fleeced.

[phil4]

Something doesn't sound right to me.

Why did the thief return to say sorry, or return at all?

I'm not saying at a high level he deserved that ET outcome, but something just doesn't seem right, and we're not seeing the full picture.

[butchstewie]

Suspect there's a fair bit of nuance to this where it's not quite as black and white as "Bus driver sacked after chasing thief" suggests.

[Sticks.]

In the LBC interview the driver said he thought the thief was under the influence of drugs.

[Gareth79]

phil4 said:

Something doesn't sound right to me.

Why did the thief return to say sorry, or return at all?

I'm not saying at a high level he deserved that ET outcome, but something just doesn't seem right, and we're not seeing the full picture.

article said:

Metroline 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.

Is she completely stupid? Should he had stood there and let a thief approach a female passenger he had just ripped a necklace off?! To "shake hands"?!

edit: Here's the tribunal judgment:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/697...

Edited by Gareth79 on Friday 30th January 11:26

[Smollet]

Obviously the bus driver believed something different. Unless you can prove it how can it be used in such circumstances?

[valiant]

Gareth79 said:

Is she completely stupid? Should he had stood there and let a thief approach a female passenger he had just ripped a necklace off?! To "shake hands"?!

Edited by Gareth79 on Friday 30th January 11:26

I imagine company policy is just that. Stay in your seat behind the screen and call central control for the police.

[maz8062]

The bus driver has issues, clearly. These buses have cocooned cabins, sheltering them away from attack - to stop the bus, open the cabin, run after the scrote, fight him, punch him, go back to the bus, buckle himself in again, unbuckle himself to fight the scrote again - for what exactly? Did he feel threatened? Is it his business, or one for the police?

Too dangerous to get involved - he could’ve been stabbed, shot, killed. A business doesn’t need folk like that - he should retrain as a bouncer, even then he won’t be able to chase people away from the premises.

[JagLover]

Gareth79 said:

Is she completely stupid? Should he had stood there and let a thief approach a female passenger he had just ripped a necklace off?! To "shake hands"?!

edit: Here's the tribunal judgment:

This

No telling what he might have done. The manager seems very naïve on that point.