A hero bus driver who was sacked after chasing down a thief who robbed a female passenger has told how he hopes he would do the same again.
Mark Hehir, 62, who lives in north London, had been driving the 206 bus between Wembley and Maida Vale in June 2024 when a man brushed past a young woman who was boarding and snatched her necklace before fleeing down the street.
Mr Hehir, who had worked for bus operator Metroline for two years prior to the incident, faced a split-second decision and sprinted after the alleged thief, managing to recover the woman’s necklace.
But after the man approached the woman again, he told how he bravely stepped between them and knocked the man out with a single punch in self-defence.
He then detained him on the floor for around half an hour until police arrived at the scene.
The following day, Mr Hehir was suspended and later fired for his actions in a decision which has outraged the public.
Now, a petition set up by shadow cabinet member Dr Kieran Mullan for Mr Hehir to be reinstated has reached 100,000 signatures while a GoFundMe set up in his name has raised more than £20,000.
Following the publication of a tribunal decision to uphold his dismissal, Mr Hehir has spoken out about the ordeal and said he just wants ‘justice’ over the decision.
Mark Hehir had worked as a London bus driver for Metroline for two years when, on June 25, 2024, he was driving the 206 bus between Wembley and Maida Vale in north-west London
He told the Daily Mail he would ‘like to think I would do the same thing again’, but added that given the ordeal he has been through, it is ‘impossible to know’.
Following the incident, Mr Hehir was hospitalised for six days and required two separate surgeries due to an infection he says was caused by the alleged thief biting him.
‘I spent six days in hospital – I got an infection in my arm, I had to have two operations, while still working for the company under their pay. No-one ever rang to ask how I was,’ he told the Mail.
‘It’s disgraceful, you could ask how my welfare is.’
He said: ‘I ended up in ICU, I had two operations on my hand because of the infection, 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.’
He added: ‘The drivers at Metroline are incredible drivers, but you’re a number, not an employee.
‘Not if you give me a million pounds would I work for Metroline again.’
The Irishman, who previously spent several months volunteering in Ukraine following Russia’s illegal invasion in 2022, said the incident had completely tarnished a job he loved.
‘I enjoyed my job, I’d wanted to find something I enjoyed. I got to know the people, you know the stops, who is getting on, you build a rapport with your customers and they took all that away.
He told the Press Association: ‘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, that’s important for me.’
Mr Hehir said he was in bed when his story went online: ‘I didn’t know what was going on, but then my phone just started popping, going crazy.’
He described driving a bus as ‘an underpaid tough job’, said the support he has received online has been ‘incredible’ but he does 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.’
Thanks to the help of a friend, Mr Hehir has now found employment in a pub in Wembley.
A tribunal heard that a man boarded the bus, pushing past a female passenger, before snatching a necklace from around her neck and running off
‘I’d never pulled a pint in my life. My friend’s helped me through funds, by being there, he gave me the job.
‘It’s a huge decrease in earnings but it kept me going. It kept me alive.’
He added the support from members of the public has ‘helped me enormously’, adding: ‘It’s put a smile on my face.
‘It was never about the money, it was about the justice. They [Metroline] got it wrong.’
He told how he had just passed Harlesden High Street when a young woman boarded the bus, on June 25, 2024.
As she went to pay her fare a man, who Mr Hehir said had boarded one stop previously, ‘brushed past’ the woman, snatched her necklace from her neck and ran off down the street.
Describing how he only had ‘seconds’ to react, Mr Hehir said he decided: ‘I’m not letting this guy get away.
‘I wasn’t going to allow it.’
The bus driver exited his cab, which he says shut and locked automatically behind him, ran after the thief and successfully retrieved the jewellery.
After returning to the woman, who had stepped off the vehicle, he gave her back the necklace, describing her as ‘very upset’.
It was suggested to Mr Hehir at tribunal that the alleged thief then returned to the bus to ‘shake hands’ and ‘apologise’ – something he categorically denies.
What is not in dispute is that the man approached the woman again.
Mr Hehir told LBC: ‘The girl is putting her hand up, she’s distressed. She’s telling him to go away.
‘I stood between them because she’s nervous. And the next thing the guy, and this is clearly shown on CCTV, went to throw a left punch and I met him with a right punch.’
This single punch left the alleged thief out cold, with Mr Hehir then restraining him on the pavement until officers arrived.
The men were both arrested, however Mr Hehir was subsequently released and told he would face no further police action. He was asked by officers whether he wished to press charges against the alleged thief, but declined to do so.
The day after the incident, the driver was suspended from duty and told to attend an investigation.
At an employment tribunal, investigating officers supported Mr Hehir’s version of events.
The hearing was shown an email containing a case review note from Detective Sergeant Waddington, which said ‘the claimant had used force which was proportionate and necessary in the circumstances in the defence of himself and the female passenger’.
DS Waddington reviewed available CCTV footage as part of the case and summarised how the alleged thief ‘throws the first punch and misses, in immediate response Mr Hehir hits him once’.
The tribunal heard the detective sergeant was ‘positive in his comments towards [Mr Hehir]’ in a covering letter to the hearing.
Yet Alina Gioroc, Operations Manager at Metroline, disagreed with the Met Police officer and ruled the alleged thief ‘returned towards the bus with the clear intention to apologise and shake hands with’ his victim.
It is not stated that Ms Gioric had spoken with the man or the female passenger before coming to this conclusion.
Ms Gioric, who handled the misconduct case for Metroline, ruled that Mr Hehir had failed to follow company procedures and had therefore committed gross misconduct. She dismissed him from his role.
Mr Hehir appealed his dismissal at tribunal, but the decision was upheld.
It was ruled ‘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’.
Politicians have backed the former bus driver with shadow justice minister Dr Kieran Mullan, 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’.
Former prime minister Boris Johnson wrote on X: ‘The sacking of a hero bus driver for knocking out a necklace thief says it all about the wet, woke, legalistic pettifoggers who run Starmer’s Britain.’
Reform UK MP Robert Jenrick posted on X: ‘Metroline should reinstate Mark and apologise for their disgraceful conduct.’
Launching the petition to have Mr Hehir reinstated, Dr Mullan, MP for Bexhill and Battle, 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.
‘Law abiding people should not be punished for standing up to thugs.
‘This decision sends a deeply troubling message that those who do the right thing will not be supported.
‘Most people would see his actions as an instinctive attempt to defend someone who had just been robbed. He should be reinstated immediately or compensated.’
A Metroline spokesperson said: ‘The tribunal has upheld the dismissal as fair. The claimant breached protocols designed to keep staff and passengers safe, which is our priority.’
