First female bus driver sacked for being 'too short'

Her employer has caused the issue.

The mirrors that come as standard with the buses are fine.

The employer has chosen to modify the mirrors therefore causing the problem.

Unless there is a very specific, otherwise unfixable issue that require the new mirrors, and as all of the buses started with the standard ones and some still have them, that's unlikely, they have casued the problem and have treated her unfairly by dint of not having made a better decision and then offering her a demotion when she pointed it out!

Think it through. The ramifications of not challenging this could be so far reaching it would make zero hour contracts look like heaven!

That's along, long reach.

Why?

What?

But if she can't drive the bus safely, are you all suggesting that her rights are put before safety? Really?

Oops posted too soon

You get the point though

[quote rwalker]@TheBitchOfTheVicar

I wouldn't want to be the passenger on the bus when the driver can't reach the pedal or see the mirrors it's basic safety[/quote]
Well quite, so why did the bus company do such a shit redesign?

(And it’s not the same as sports cars, whoever said that, because those are usually consumer pr

Why?

To be honest it's no worse than most sports cars not being able to fit a 6ft 4 man in them.

Of course it’s worse, don’t be preposterous. This is about her ability to make a living, not about your chosen hobby. And she’s not “outside the normal sizes.” Over 5% of women are 5’0. The equivalent of your 99th centile height would be a woman of 4’10.

Some real bright sparks must have come up with this redesign...!

Signed. As a woman of 5ft1 who has to put up with a load of crap in a world designed by men, this case angers me.
I hope she wipes the floor with them.

Signed.

Does not being able to drive an MX5 prevent you from making your living in the way you have done for 34 years?

There is a glaringly obvious difference between the two situations!

To be honest it's no worse than most sports cars not being able to fit a 6ft 4 man in them. Perhaps I should sue Mazda for the poor design for their MX-5. Those of us outside the normal sizes encounter these problems.

[quote rwalker]@TheBitchOfTheVicar

I wouldn't want to be the passenger on the bus when the driver can't reach the pedal or see the mirrors it's basic safety[/quote]
Yet she was sucessful in preforming her job for more than 30 years.
She also could have continued to do so until the company removed safety equipment and replaced it with sub-standard equipment.

The company responded to the notification of a H&S problem by getting rid of the person who informed them of the problem.

I would not want to be the passenger on the bus when the driver/ cleaner / mechanic / etc thinks losing their job is the reward for notifying their company of H&S issues.

[quote rwalker]@TheBitchOfTheVicar

I wouldn't want to be the passenger on the bus when the driver can't reach the pedal or see the mirrors it's basic safety[/quote]
So tell the bus company that. They are the ones who chose a cheap fix that meant women, all women, the class/cohort of women, would be disproportionately affected by the change.

It's shit like this that many, many women have campaigned against so we women now can have some hope of a fair, equitable system.

Attitudes like yours show a certain disadain, or ignorance, of the issues behind this.

Thankfully the law doesn't have your blindspot, on this issue. For 34 years her driving was exemplary. Once the changes started her employer made sure her rota accommodated the changes. They are fully aware of what they have done and must have hoped she'd take a cut in pay and be grateful to still have any job at all.

THAT isn't good enough!

@TheBitchOfTheVicar

I wouldn't want to be the passenger on the bus when the driver can't reach the pedal or see the mirrors it's basic safety

She was sacked for being 5ft not for being a woman

More women than men are 5ft so this disproportionately affects women

She was sacked for being 5ft not for being a woman . Clearly wrong to sack her.

Thanks OP. Signed. They redesign their buses so women can't drive them and then sack her. Appalling

It is. And again, it was her employers not the bus manufacturer who made that change

She said the firm began replacing broken ‘branch’ mirrors to the side of the windscreen with side mirrors, around two years ago... [and] she’d have to lean around a pillar on the cab assault screen to see the mirror, meaning her feet lifted off the pedals.

I know more about bus manufacturing than i would like. Certainly buses are currently designed taking into account both men and women and take into account the 5th to 95th centile of both men and women in terms of height and weight of the country of sale. There are more regulations including women in the design than say private cars. So this seems a very odd decision to do this as i think 5ft is slightly above the 5th centile.

Who goes 'I know I will buy a bunch of buses which won't be suitable for all our existing workforce to drive because its badly designed and only for a certain minimum height' and thinks its a good idea?

Then punishes their faultless employee for their own lack of due diligence?

Surely one of the steps in the process of the designing new equipment is to test out that it is useable for all staff- tall, short, thin, larger bodied, able bodied, disabled, NT, ND? Is that not done?