We dismissed a driver who was a trade union branch official. With hindsight there were courses of action that might have avoided the ensuing strike. I felt like a football manager who is given a vote of confidence by his board, although it was clear that there was significant anxiety at the top.
My Traffic Manager, Bob Jordan, heard the first appeal and had little option but to substitute a final written warning in place of the dismissal. But even that wasn’t enough to get the buses running again.
When I took the final appeal, the smiles and ‘hand on shoulder’ gestures of solidarity from senior executives disguised a coded message that buses must be back on the road and the conflict defused. The final warning was removed and a lower sanction imposed.
It was not one of my best moments, although colleague Syd Durham said that if there had been another stage in the appeals process, the dismissed driver would have been promoted to Inspector!
A few years ago, I was with Tom Wileman who, in addition to being MD of a major local bus company, was Chairman of Greater Manchester’s bus operators’ association and a formidable character.
We were taking legal advice from someone whose patronising attitude had me checking that I wasn’t wearing short trousers and a school satchel. In exasperation at the tone and substance of the advice, I gathered up my papers in a theatrical manner and sat back in my chair, stony faced and with arms folded.
Tom, in his Scottish accent, produced a simple yet effective put-down to our learned friend. He leant forward and said: “I don’t think Mr Hulme is very impressed!” He then glanced sideways and said quietly “Neither am I, Jim.”
Harmony among colleagues is an important ingredient in any organisation, although human nature dictates that liking a person is not something that can be built into corporate procedures.
In my day innocent banter was very much part of the game, so long as a fine line of acceptability wasn’t crossed. I wonder if it would pass the test of today’s political correctness.
I’m not sure if fellow Greater Manchester Buses Area MD Ian Bradshaw saw the funny side when I heard him say of himself that he was “a boring old fart.” I replied, with a smile, “Oh come Ian, you’re not boring.” Did I cross that line?
As Francis Urquhart might have said in House of Cards, “You may think that, but I couldn’t possibly comment.”
