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Bus driver sacked for being ‘too short’ gets job back after winning appeal
Tracey had been driving Manchester buses for over three decades when she was let go for ‘being too short’
The female bus driver who was sacked for being ‘too short’ has been given her job back after winning her highly-publicised appeal.
Despite being one of the first female bus drivers in Manchester and having thirty-four years of experience under her belt, Tracey Scholes was found to lack the ‘capability’ to drive Go North West’s new vehicles safely.
The position of the new buses’ wing mirrors required the fifty-seven-year-old, from Heywood, to lean around a pillar to see them, meaning she could not keep her feet safely on the pedals.
Because of this, Tracey was offered a different position driving the company’s school buses, though it would mean a reduction in hours worked and pay.
The company also offered the bus driver her current pay rate but with reduced hours, which meant she would still be losing around £230 a month, the Unite union said. She turned down both positions and was subsequently given her notice.
Tracey’s story was quick to go viral and gained the support of celebrities including actors Maxine Peake, Julie Hesmondhalgh and James Quinn. A petition was also set up in support of Tracey has gained a massive 29,214 signatures at the time of writing.
Also at her wit’s end, Tracey herself launched a desperate appeal last week to keep her job, which saw hundreds of people turn out at the Queens Road Depot in Cheetham Hill where the appeal hearing was taking place to show their support.
And this week, the campaigning has paid off, with Go North West officially offering Tracey her job back where she would drive a different model of bus.
Under the new deal, Tracey will start earlier to allow her to pick up a bus with wing mirrors of her preference, and her weekly hours and rate of pay will remain unchanged.
Go North West’s HR director Scott Maynard said in a statement that the company was ‘pleased’ their ‘valued and long-serving driver’ was to stay with Go North West ‘after she decided to accept an offer to drive different buses as per a proposal made in September’.
Scott Maynard added: “We have said from the start that we wanted to keep Tracey and we are glad that she has changed her mind and decided to stay.”
He said the company “operates no height restrictions on recruitment, and has multiple drivers of the same height, or below, as Tracey”.
“It is categorically untrue that we would, or could, have threatened anybody with dismissal on grounds of height.”