Following a petition which attracted thousands of signatures, the reinstatement of a bus driver left out of work by a vehicle redesign that made her unsafe to drive them has resulted in her being reinstated.
Tracey Scholes is 57 years old and can no longer use Go North West’s bus wing mirrors. However, she has worked 34 year for Go North West.
After a final appeal by the BBC on Tuesday 11, January, the bus firm offered to take the widow to drive other buses. The BBC reports that she accepted.
Over 250,000 people signed a petition calling for Mrs Scholes to be fired. A large crowd gathered outside Queens Road Bus Depot in Cheetham Hill (Manchester), where the appeal hearing took place.
In an interview with BBC North West Tonight, Mrs Scholes stated that she has never experienced a problem driving the cars in 34 years. However, they have moved one of their mirrors… which caused me to lose my vision.
Tracey Scholes, aged 57, was reinstated to her job after she lost her job because of the redesign of Go North West buses. This meant that she couldn’t safely access the pedals and look at the wing mirrors.
Scott Maynard (Go North West’s HR Director) stated in a statement that he was pleased Mrs Tracey would continue with the company. He described her as an ‘valued, long-serving driver’.
According to Mr Maynard, the offer she accepted after the January 11 appeal was identical to the one that she received in September 2021.
The new employment terms allow Mrs Scholes to start sooner, so she will be able to use a safe bus equipped with wing mirrors.
The weekly hours of Mrs Tracey and her rate of salary will remain the same.
Unite, which supported Tracey’s appeal to have her job back, said Tracey was someone who had ‘broke down the mould for women bus workers’ over her three-decade career.
We have always said that Tracey would be our only child, and now we’re glad she’s decided to stay.
He said, “It’s categorically false that we would or could have threatened anyone with dismissal for being too high.”
According to Mr Maynard Go North West doesn’t have height restrictions for hiring and has multiple drivers with the same height (or below) as Tracey.
Unite describes Mrs Scholes as an unblemished pioneer in bus driving for women.
Unite claims that the widow was the first woman to start work in her bus depot.