Overview
- An employment tribunal upheld Metroline’s dismissal of 62-year-old Mark Hehir, who pursued a thief and knocked the attacker out in self-defence after a passenger’s necklace was snatched.
- Hehir says he wants an apology and compensation for lost earnings and has no intention of returning to work for Metroline.
- Public support has swelled, with a petition exceeding 100,000 signatures and a GoFundMe passing £20,000.
- Conservative politicians including Kieran Mullan, Richard Holden and Susan Hall have written to Mayor Sadiq Khan urging consideration of reinstatement or compensation, while Boris Johnson and Robert Jenrick have publicly backed Hehir.
- Hehir reports six days in hospital, an ICU stay and two operations on his hand following the 2024 incident, and he criticizes a lack of contact from the company, which says the dismissal was fair and disputes his account of support.