First female bus driver sacked for being 'too short'

[Imnobody4]

Speaking as a 5ft women this is outrageous, straight out of 'Invisible Women'

www.msn.com/en-gb/news/newsmanchester/manchester-depots-first-female-bus-driver-sacked-for-being-too-short/ar-AARrc9o?ocid=uxbndlbing

So last month, when Tracey was given her notice, it was a devastating blow.

The reason, claims Unite the union, is that since the operator has repositioned its wing mirrors, 5ft Tracey is too short to use them at the same time as reaching the pedals.

Last month, Unite claims, bosses ruled that Tracey no longer had the 'capability' to safely drive their buses and offered her an alternative role at the company, but for less hours and pay.

Tracey declined and was given 12 weeks' notice, a decision she is now appealing.

There's a petition which quite a lot of men seem to be signing.
www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/support-the-1st-female-bus-driver-at-queens-road-she-deserves-better?bucket&source=facebook-share-button&time=1638221320&share=1ee9f7a7-05be-406a-b667-62c729f4f6f7

@Mouseonmychair

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.

Buying your own car is not subject to employment law and obligations under the equality act to ensure all employees are treated fairly.

I do hope that helps you understand why your comparison is a bunch of arse.

Sorry, misquoted, misread and misunderstood

glad it wasn’t me being stupid!

It’s like the NHS deciding to use a different glove manufacturer that only make gloves up to a certain size because it’s cheaper and that meaning lots of men (larger hands than women) are suddenly no longer able to work safely in their jobs. Would that be OK?

@Almostmenopausal

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

As somebody who is 4'11'', I agree there is some jobs I physically couldn't do, for the safety of myself or others.

HOWEVER

There is a big difference between that and having a job that suddenly changes so my height becomes a safety issue when it hadn't been already.

I support this lady. I feel it very viscerally, actually.

@MaryAndGerryLivingInDerry

It’s like the NHS deciding to use a different glove manufacturer that only make gloves up to a certain size because it’s cheaper and that meaning lots of men (larger hands than women) are suddenly no longer able to work safely in their jobs. Would that be OK?

This is an excellent comparison. It's very telling how some people clearly think women's jobs don't matter.

I've signed.

Signed.

Tracey Scholes wins her appeal! Well, the first part of it. Seems she has been offered an alternative job driving school buses, at the same rate of pay. However, this comes with a reduction in hours (and therefor money) so she it appealing again, as the company are refusing to make up her hours, or her pay.

www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/five-foot-bus-driver-told-6368881?fbclid=IwAR04uHf-72ChCkFKAgH6pCO_ySma5KUFKinCPHR_OoOA7u1EpxZd-_5Irbg

Good for her!

Really pleased for her, although not good enough IMO!

Better than nothing, but they need to make it so she's earning the same as before......

Signed and shared. I know loads of women of 5"2 and under and height shouldn't really be a factor in a job like this!!

I've been on a few Facebook posts about this. So many people who just don't understand the problem, have a weird version of events and so many men just rambling in about women drivers, women wanting equality, moaning and being stupid.

I've chosen one to tackle. After he posted 'lol' and I told him that I thought he had misspelled 'law' he not only explained lol but told me I was obviously using my own definition of law!!!!

With people like him around it's no surprise that workplace and life inequities seem to thrive!

Seems she has been offered an alternative job driving school buses, at the same rate of pay. However, this comes with a reduction in hours

But if they don’t actually fix the main buses they are still discriminating against women. And my understanding from this thread is that any short woman they don’t hire could sue them for discrimination in that case. Either I’ve understood things wrong or they are very slow learners!

They, and the union that is now supporting her, seem to be very slow learners.

They have other drivers if similar height who may well be keeping quiet for fear if being sacked.

And in for future hiring they will need a minimum height requirement that will, again, come down to choices they made rather than industry standards.

And you have to wonder how many other firms have ten same mirrors fitted but haven't had a short driver. They'll have to be aware of this too.

www.unitetheunion.org/news-events/news/2022/january/tracey-scholes-is-back-in-the-driving-seat/?link_id=1&can_id=9aaec641e7130bfe5ad6f3e266020449&source=email-tracey-won-thanks-for-supporting-her-to-keep-driving-at-go-north-west&email_referrer=email_1412892&email_subject=tracey-won-thanks-for-supporting-her-to-keep-driving-at-go-north-west

Hooray! She won and has got her job back.

From reading that they're going to pay her full 25 hours but might only give her 20 hours work. How will that work when employing women in the future? They'll still have the same problem of not enough appropriate buses to drive so does that mean they'll be allowed to not employ 5ft women in future?.

Glad for her and the power of public opinion but it's unlikely to help other short people

This article quotes the company as saying that she will have the same hours and weekly pay as before this all started, and that she will be able to start earlier to ensure she gets an appropriate bus to drive.

The bus company should have looked from the start how to accommodate Tracy, without enforcing a reduction in hours and in pay rate.

Hopefully if any other women are in a similar position this will give them confidence that they can challenge it.

oops.. this article

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jan/17/manchester-bus-driver-dismissed-for-being-too-short-given-job-back-after-appeal

I'm really glad she got her job back but what an absolute shit show.

The guardian article reads as if the company still doesn't understand what all the fuss was about and are pretending this was what they wanted all along. From the HR director:

^“We have said from the start that we wanted to keep Tracey and we are glad that she has changed her mind and decided to stay,” he said.
He added that the company “operates no height restrictions on recruitment, and has multiple drivers of the same height, or below, as Tracey”. “It is categorically untrue that we would, or could, have threatened anybody with dismissal on grounds of height.”^

I was alerted to this from the invisible women newsletter (highly recommended).
Just because two people are about the same height, it doesn't mean their torso, leg and arm length are the same.