Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Sacked north-east bus driver loses unfair dismissal case

Lee Cox represented himself at the employment tribunal against Stagecoach Bluebird.
Lee Cox represented himself at the employment tribunal against Stagecoach Bluebird.

A north-east bus driver sacked for swearing during a row with a colleague has lost his legal challenge to claim unfair dismissal.

Lee Cox lost his job with Stagecoach Bluebird in June 2017 after sticking up his middle finger during an argument.

The Methlick driver admitted he had sworn “out of frustration”, but said the behaviour was common in his line of work and did not warrant being written up and, in turn, be dismissed.

Representing himself over two days of evidence, he took his former employer to tribunal in Aberdeen last month.

And after weighing up both sides of the case, employment judge Sandy Kemp revealed yesterday that he was ruling in favour of the bus operator.

Mr Cox said the row had broken out after he turned up to work “frustrated” following a night in hospital.

While he was able to provide verbal confirmation from his doctor that he was fit to drive despite the health scare, bosses turned him away insisting on being given written proof instead.

This resulted in the driver being disciplined for the third time and led to him being served with a dismissal notice.

However, Mr Cox said his behaviour during each incident had been “blown out of proportion” by senior staff who were angling to get rid of him.

During the tribunal he gave the example of the first case, in which he was being harassed by a “well-known junkie-beggar” in front of a senior colleague who did not intervene.

Stagecoach’s solicitor Stephen McLaren described it as “very similar” to the one which led to his dismissal, but Mr Cox said bus station CCTV proved this was not the case.

A spokeswoman for the bus firm said: “We are pleased that the hearing has found in our favour and confirmed that the action taken in respect of this employee was fair and reasonable.”

She added: “We expect all of our staff to behave in a professional and polite manner at all times.”

Mr Cox was unavailable for comment.