A Bus Éireann driver who was sacked after twice failing to issue all his passengers with tickets should be reinstated, the Employment Appeals Tribunal has found.
It said there was no proof that Mr Terence Wallace, who was sacked after two inspections in January last year, had deliberately defrauded the company.
Mr Wallace, a senior driver based in Navan, Co Meath, had been employed by the company since 1972. His dismissal followed his failure to issue a €0.70 ticket to a child who boarded his bus on one occasion, and further failure to issue two €1.10 adult tickets on another journey three days later.
He said in the first instance the child had received a ticket but might have torn it up, while the second case was due to "an oversight" on his part.
Following a disciplinary hearing, attended by Mr Wallace and a union representative, he was dismissed with seven days' notice on January 24th, 2003.
In its determination, the tribunal said the "very small sum of money" involved was not relevant, given the "undoubted seriousness" of the allegation that "deliberate errors" were made.
Several other inspections had been carried out on the driver without any problems arising, and the tribunal found there was "a lack of proof" of deliberate intent to defraud.
The tribunal had to allow that "gross carelessness" had been the cause of the two discrepancies.
It upheld a rights commissioner's decision that unpaid suspension was the appropriate sanction, but said Mr Wallace should be reinstated from July 1st last, the date of the tribunal's decision.
Mr Wallace told the tribunal ticket irregularities happened all the time on routes, and he was very surprised to be dismissed over "two very small incidents".
