Bus driver sacked for punching thief wants apology

A bus driver who was sacked for punching a thief who had stolen a necklace from a female passenger has said he would not want his job back - but would like an apology and compensation for lost earnings.

Mark Hehir, 62, was driving the 206 bus between Wembley and Maida Vale in north-west London in June 2024 when the incident unfolded.

Metroline told a tribunal the driver's use of force was "excessive" after the thief, who was shown on CCTV to have thrown the first punch, was knocked unconscious.

More than 100,000 people have signed a petition supporting the reinstatement of Hehir, whose dismissal was upheld in November following a tribunal.

Hehir, 62, said: "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."

Both men were arrested but Hehir was subsequently released and told he would face no further police action.

The day after the incident on 25 June 2024, he was suspended from duty and told to attend an investigation.

The petition calling for his reinstatement was started by the shadow justice minister Dr Kieran Mullan, who described the sacking as "shameful and unjust".

Hehir, originally from Limerick in Ireland, said the support from the public had been "incredible" since the employment tribunal upheld Metrolink's decision.

Asked if he would accept his job back, 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."

Hehir, who described driving a bus as "an underpaid, tough job", said the support he has received online had been "incredible" but he did 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 fundraising page for Hehir has raised more than £26,000.

He said he had spent six days in hospital after the 2024 incident "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," he said. "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."

Other politicians have backed the former bus driver, with 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".

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

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