Mark Hehir managed to chase down a thief and return the stolen necklace to one of his passengers (Picture: Facebook)
A bus driver who caused a public outcry after he was sacked for stopping a thief is a hero volunteer who spent months in Ukraine after Russia invaded.
Mark Hehir was driving the 206 bus between Wembley and Maida Vale in June 2024 when a man boarded the bus and snatched a necklace from around a woman’s neck before fleeing.
The then-60-year-old chased after the man and returned the jewellery to the victim,but later claims the thief came back to the bus to attack him.
During the scuffle,he punched the man in self-defence and restrained him until police arrived.
But Metroline,who he had worked for for two years, claimed he brought the company into disrepute and sacked him.
He told Metro: ‘I’m not a guy who attacks people,but I will defend people in trouble.
Mark Hehir volunteering in Ukraine (Picture: Facebook)
‘Which has unfortunately proved to be my downfall.’
Mr Hehir,now 62,revealed he had spent months volunteering in Ukraine after the war broke out in 2022.
‘I went on my own,’ he said. ‘I was based on the Poland-Ukraine border and brought both people and supplies in-and-out of the country.’
He added: ‘I was very nearly a target,we were not allowed phones at all.
‘I would watch soldiers pass through daily to go to war.’
Mr Hehir was arrested at the scene of the fight but was later released and told he would face no further police action.
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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 argued ‘he had acted instinctively’ and that he had left the doors open and the handbrake on.
The public have been quick to defend Mr Hehir,from Wembley,saying he deserves awards instead.
Allan Evans told Metro: ‘I think the bus operator is disgraceful,the man should get a medal’.
The Shadow Justice Minister,Dr Kieran Mullan MP,has set up a petition for Mr Hehir to be reinstated.
He said: ‘This is not justice. Mark Hehir stepped in to protect a passenger and recover her stolen property and for doing the right thing and putting himself in harm’s way,he lost his job. That is plainly wrong.
Our journalists work hard to deliver the most important stories from around the world‘Acting quickly to help people in moments like this is difficult and even trained professionals can make mistakes. But people doing the right thing,for the right reasons,when so many look the other way need our support.’A police report also came to Mr Hehir’s defence,saying ‘the claimant had used force which was proportionate and necessary in the circumstances in the defence of himself and the female passenger’.But 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’.She found the restraining of the man for almost half an hour to be an ‘excessive use of force and disproportionate’,the tribunal heard.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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