A National Express engineer with 37 years’ service was fired after passengers’ fare money went missing from a bus he had been checking as part of his job.
The situation was revealed at Birmingham Employment Tribunal as engineer Carl Smith made a legal claim for unfair dismissal against West Midlands Travel Ltd, trading as National Express.
Mr Smith’s job included repairing buses at the firm’s Wolverhampton depot.
The Tribunal was told that that he had been checking a bus when it was discovered a £5 note and some coins had been removed from the cash vault. It was also shown CCTV footage of the vault.
The bus had been brought in for repairs and the defendants, which opposed Mr Smith’s legal claim, suspected he had been responsible for the missing money.
The total proceeds in passengers’ fares taken from the vaults could amount to £400,000 a day from all the buses, it was said.
Mr Smith, who had a previously good record over 37 years, was accused of gross misconduct and eventually dismissed. He admitted checking the vault on the bus which contained money but said he had put the £5 note back in the container.
He told the Tribunal he had forgotten to hand in the coins.
Mr Smith said he had been unfairly dismissed, and accused the firm of treating him harshly in view of his long service record, saying “it was a stupid, but honest mistake”.
Tribunal Judge John McCluggage said that after being told about the involved procedure of dealing with the money vault, he did not believe Mr Smith had returned the £5 note.
He said: “I find that the claimant’s claim for unfair dismissal is not well founded and, as a result, the claim fails.”
Mr Smith said he now had another job.
