A passenger who had her necklace stolen on a London bus has said the Irish bus driver who retrieved it "didn't deserve" to be sacked.
Mark Hehir, 62, who is originally from Limerick, was fired by Metroline after he chased down a thief who had stolen the jewellery belonging to one of his passengers, Katalin Kaszas.
Ms Kaszas, 46, said that she felt "so guilty" after learning Mr Hehir had lost his job as a result of confronting the thief.
She said: "When I was getting on the bus, a young man was getting off on the front door. He was running past me, I thought he was going to push me off the bus. He just grabbed my necklace and ran with it.
"I was like, 'Why is he there, where is my necklace? Oh damn’. So that’s when I realised what just happened. I saw Mark running out, running after the guy."
But after Mr Hehir gave the necklace back to Ms Kaszas, the thief returned to the bus.
Ms Kaszas said: "The guy was coming up… I was like ‘No, no, no, stay away from me, I don’t want to do anything with you’. He looked very, very shifty, I did not feel comfortable at all.
"I would say I even felt threatened, so I was backing away, and that’s when Mark realised that something is not right here and he stepped in.
"I don’t know where I was in my mind, I saw a punch flying, a guy hitting the floor, there was some blood and then I started to call the police."
Asked for her reaction to hearing Mr Hehir had been sacked by Metroline, Ms Kaszas said: "I think it was unjust. I don’t think (Mr Hehir) deserved that.
"If he doesn’t do what he did, anything could have happened to me.
"I felt so guilty. I felt that it was my fault - I caused all this."
Meanwhile, UK Justice Secretary David Lammy told the House of Commons yesterday that Mr Hehir "is of course a hero and deserves our support".
He added: "I’m following this case very closely."
More than 125,000 people have signed a petition in support of Mr Hehir, which was launched after an employment tribunal upheld Metroline’s decision to sack the bus driver.
In another sign of public support for the former bus driver, a GoFundMe page for Mr Hehir has raised more than £28,000.
Yesterday, Mr Hehir was invited into parliament by shadow justice minister Kieran Mullan.
Mr Mullan said: "I think Metroline need to come out and apologise, Mark deserves an apology, it’s quite clear they’ve gotten this wrong."
Self-defence
Last week, an employment tribunal found that on 25 June 2024 Mr Hehir was driving the 206 bus, which runs between Wembley and Maida Vale in northwest London.
The tribunal was told the bus driver then responded in self-defence to the thief and hit the man once, knocking him unconscious.
Mr Hehir then restrained the thief on the pavement until police arrived.
Both men were arrested, however Mr Hehir was told he would face no further police action.
A police case review said: "The claimant had used force which was proportionate and necessary in the circumstances in the defence of himself and the female passenger."
A Metroline spokesperson said: "The tribunal has upheld the dismissal as fair."
'Their policy is contradictory'
Mark Hehir said he has been asked repeatedly whether he woud like his job back, and says he is not interested in returning to his former position.
"You can't work for a company who treat their staff in the way Metroline treated me and expect to go back and work for the same company.
"Their policy is contradictory.
"In one part of the policy it says you're responsible for the health, safety and upkeep of your passengers.
"And the other side of the policy it states that you cannot leave your cab.
"So it's kind of contradictory, how can you help someone if you cannot leave your cab."
He said that the UK Parliament was now debating a change "to make it such that drivers or other people will be protected from this sort of thing happening again in future".
Mr Hehir says despite trying to remain positive, the experience has set him back because "that's just taken two years out of your life, you know, and you kind of reel from it".
He said he decided not to go home for Christmas and kept the story from his family at home in Ireland because he did not want them to be worrying.
He said they know now and that his sister revealed to their mother what happened "and as expected, my mum says she is absolutely very, very proud of me".
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