(Image source: MEN media/Metro)
A bus driver who says that she lost her job because she was deemed “too short” to drive buses has had her job reinstated.
According to the Metro, 57-year-old Tracey Scholes was the only female driver at the Queens Road depot in Greater Manchester when she started in 1987. At five feet tall, she started having difficulties when her bus company, Go North West Ltd., altered the position of the wing mirrors on its vehicles. This meant that every time she tried to reach the pedals of the vehicle she had a blind spot. She was then given 3 months’ notice to leave her job.
When she spoke out about her situation, 25,000 people signed a petition to keep her on, and the bus company reinstated her.
Scott Maynard, the firm’s group HR director told the BBC that the company was delighted that a “valued and long serving driver” was going to stay with the company. It was decided that she would start her shift early and have her choice of buses so that she could pick one that had mirrors that she could use without having a blind spot.
Maynard also denied that the company would have threatened anyone with dismissal on grounds of height.
Her union welcomed the move and said it was a real testimony to Tracey’s spirit. Tracey herself said that she had been very worried about the situation and the prospect that she might lose her job.
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