OC Transpo bus driver fired after yelling incident
Posted Nov 15, 2011 07:36:24 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The OC Transpo bus driver who swore and yelled at a passenger in a YouTube video has been fired.
The driver was dismissed at the end of OC Transpo’s investigation.
The incident was caught by another transit rider on his phone, and then posted to YouTube, igniting a firestorm of controversy.
Matthew Toronno is the passenger at the centre of the incident. He tells 1310news, he didn’t want to see the operator lose his job. He says he just wanted the driver to know what he did was wrong. Toronno does say he would still like a personal apology from the bus driver.
The incident, two weeks ago, happened on route 96, just before the Eagleson park-and-ride.
The transit union stood by the driver saying it couldn’t be proven that the driver was actually the one doing the swearing. The union wants to appeal the termination because it feels the penalty is too harsh. ATU head, Garry Queale says the driver had recently lost his wife and mother to cancer and just two days before the video, was spit on by a passenger.
The driver does have the option to file a grievance, over his firing.
