Dublin Coach driver claims he was fired for complaining about ‘seriously unsafe’ vehicles

It has been alleged that a bus company’s managers fired a driver because he made complaints about “seriously unsafe” vehicles before attempting to carry out a “self-styled deportation” on the migrant worker by booking him a flight home and trying to escort him to the airport.

The driver, Nico Holloway, told the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) on Wednesday that his passengers were left “shocked” on one occasion last winter when a door on his vehicle “flew open” on the M7 motorway. After the incident, he said he was directed to close it and drive on.

It was one of a number of alleged “defects” he claims he raised about the coaches he was driving on intercity bus routes, between October 2023 and January 2024. Others included a cracked windscreen, malfunctioning wipers, along with problems with power steering, seat belts, tyres and secondary braking systems.

“They just tell you to drive the bus as is,” Mr Holloway told the tribunal in evidence.

Lawyers acting for Citi Bus Ltd, trading as Dublin Coach, have said the claims by its former employee Nico Holloway, who is a South African national, are “hotly in dispute”. They claim his probation was unsatisfactory and that he had been talking to other drivers about staging a mass walkout.

Mr Holloway’s solicitor, Setanta Landers, said his client’s concerns were “not properly acted upon, or were ignored”. The said the response of the company “beggars belief” and constituted “egregious penalisation of a vulnerable migrant worker”.

Ray Ryan, appearing for Citi Bus, said: “Mr Holloway says he made protected disclosures. We deny that. We say he hasn’t made a protected disclosure.” He called the allegations levelled at the firm “entirely baseless” and “utterly without merit”.

The tribunal heard Mr Holloway was among a number of South African men recruited to fill jobs in the company in September 2023. He had previously worked as a truck driver in his native South Africa.

He said he was promised €613 a week when he came over, with “everything arranged”, including housing. He said he was among more than 20 men working for Citi Bus sharing rooms and a canteen at a former office building near its depot, with four showers between them.

His evidence was that, after completing training and starting work in mid-October that year, he began to have concerns about the condition of the vehicles.

“There was a lot of defects and stuff on the buses. My personal opinion is it’s not my life that I’m risking, it’s the public’s lives,” Mr Holloway said.

Mr Holloway said one of his duties was to perform a “walkaround” before driving a vehicle and report any apparent defects. Mr Holloway said he had reported various issues with a number of vehicles.

He referred to noises coming from the power steering of one coach, a door not closing properly, seat belts not working and an engine light appearing in the dashboard on one vehicle.

The worker told the WRC that, while he was driving on the M7 in December, a door “flew open”.

“I stopped on the side of the road and phoned the duty manager. He said: ‘Just close the door and go on.’” He said he had to pull the door closed manually.

On another occasion, while driving a bus from Dublin Airport to the Red Cow in rainy conditions, he found the vehicle’s windscreen wipers were “interlocking” and failing to clear rainwater.

“It was very unsafe to drive,” he said of the vehicle, which he also said had seat belts not working, a problem with its steering and a “malfunctioning” door that was letting in wind and water.

Mr Holloway said he had received one bus in December 2023 with a door “taped closed, with a ratchet strap and some marking tape”, with Mr Landers exhibiting a photo taken by his client.

“Who set up that contraption?” Mr Landers asked.

“It was like that when I got the bus,” he said.

Asked whether the firm had taken action to fix what he had reported, Mr Holloway said: “They weren’t doing anything about it.”

Mr Holloway said he was served with notice of dismissal on January 5th, 2024, and told the company was “unsatisfied” with his performance.

Mr Landers said a named manager at Citi Bus “took it upon himself” to arrange “the immediate deportation of the complainant” from Ireland following his dismissal by booking him an air ticket to Cape Town. He added that his office wrote to the employer that day stating it had no right to effect a “self-styled deportation”.

Under cross-examination by counsel for the respondent Ray Ryan, Mr Holloway said he had a discussion about “standing together” with five or six other drivers and raising issues with his employer.

“At the time they were all willing, like I said. At the end, I was man alone,” Mr Holloway said.

Mr Ryan put it to Mr Holloway that the fact he had discussed it with colleagues had been “part of the company’s thinking” in dismissing him.

“I can’t agree,” Mr Holloway said. “Like I said, it was the defects that I reported and that’s why the company dismissed me.”

Mr Ryan also put it to Mr Holloway that with the company’s buses travelling “as much as a thousand kilometres a day” there was “going to be wear and tear”.

“With wear and tear, there comes maintenance,” Mr Holloway said.

After hearing the evidence of another former driver at the firm, Lukas Badenhorst, adjudicator David James Murphy adjourned the matter overnight.

The case is to continue on Thursday with the evidence of a driver still working for Citi Bus, Mark Mayer, before the respondent will present its defence.