KEY POINTS:
A bus driver with an anger management problem, who was fired after crashing his bus into that of a hated colleague's, will be paid out for unjustifiable dismissal.
Pattrick Brown won $5600 compensation as well as three months' lost wages (less 30 per cent) after he was fired
by Christchurch's Leopard Coachlines Ltd.
He had been locked in a bitter dispute with a colleague - not named by the Employment Relations Authority - and was fired last February after disobeying company instructions to give way as he drove down a steep Mt Pleasant road.
Brown's bus crossed the centre line and crashed into one driven by his colleague coming up the hill.
The relationship between the pair had become so fraught that their Saturday Mt Pleasant run was virtually the only time their paths crossed.
The company had organised rosters so that they were never in the lunch room together, and they refused to speak to one another on the radio system.
The company said that in early February, Brown ignored instructions to wait above a tight corner so that his colleague could safely pass.
Camera footage showed Brown did stop briefly to talk to a passerby - and even mentioned that he was worried about another bus coming up the hill - but continued.
A police report said that the rear of Brown's bus crossed the centre line and swiped the other bus, breaking its back windows. There were two passengers on the other bus.
During the ERA hearing Brown denied telling his supervisor, on the day of the crash, "we're going to have some fun on the hill tonight". He said he did not know the company policy of waiting before that particular corner.
The ERA decision also said that Leopard's manager, Matt O'Malley, had earlier found out Brown had allegedly threatened to kill the other driver. Brown's lawyer said he would take an anger management course.
After the accident he was too stressed to work. Police did not charge him, but he was given an infringement notice for driving over the white line while turning right, and fined $150. He was fired on February 3. ERA member Helen Doyle said the dismissal was unjustified because he was not warned, prior to disciplinary meetings, that his job was at stake. The incident was misconduct rather than serious misconduct.
