Zoe Moffatt
In the first week of the new year rain pelted down across the state. The weather lashed towns including Heathcote, Seymour and Yea. Sunbury residents felt the effect with 34mm of rainfall recorded at nearby Melbourne Airport on Monday, January 8.
Local roads were covered with water and Sunbury SES spokesperson Jarrod Bell said the unit had 11 calls for help across 10 different locations in Sunbury.
That Monday, local bus driver Mick Priest, 56, went to work with Sunbury Coaches. It was a job he had been doing for 14 years and 11 months. It was a job he said he loved.
While at work, with no passengers on the bus, Mick said he saw a bridge on Spavin Drive that was flooded with water over the road.
“I pulled my bus over and put the brakes on and the hazard lights on and I took a photo of the flooded bridge,” he said.
“When I got back to the station, I put it on the Sunbury Community [Facebook] Page to share that with the community and let people know it was flooded.
“Somebody reported to the company that I was using a mobile phone because I was sitting in the bus when I took the photo. They deemed that to be in charge of [the] vehicle and they terminated me.”
It was that exact photograph that Star Weekly used when covering the flooding in the area to inform residents of the local impact.
“They said they didn’t have a problem with me alerting, doing a community service. But the fact that I took the photo while sitting in the seat of the bus,” Mick said.
“I couldn’t get out of the bus because it was raining.
“[They said it] was in breach of company policy to abuse my phone on company time to access social media on company time.”
With rescues carried out every year due to people crossing flooded roads, it was for this reason Mick said he took and posted the photograph.
Coming home after work, just shy of achieving 15 years with the company, Mick had to tell his wife and his children that he had been terminated.
“I’m gutted, devastated. I love my job,” he said.
“I love the people and I look forward to going to work every day.
“[It’s] embarrassing to come home and tell my wife and my children and family and friends that I was terminated.”
Since being terminated, the Transport Workers Union (TWU) has started a public campaign to have Mick reinstated.
TWU Victorian /Tasmanian branch assistant secretary from the Transport Workers Union Mem Suleyman said it’s one of the most shocking sackings he has ever seen.
“Mick is a local hero and should have been honoured by the company not sacked,” he said.
“Since lodging our unfair dismissal claim and public campaign, we have been inundated by messages of support from locals in Sunbury including politicians, our members and community leaders.
“These locals have praised Mick’s dedication to the community and slammed the company. Everybody is appalled by the decision, it’s just disgusting.
“We will continue to highlight the shocking injustice, consider all legal avenues, and escalate this matter until justice is served.”
With about 300 signatures on a petition to get his job back, Mick said the support from TWU and the public has been great.
“I was struggling there for a while mentally just with everything that had happened,” Mick said.
“I’ve spoken to so many people, [with] texts and emails and messages from people offering support and helping me out. No one can believe what has happened.”
Having lived in Sunbury for 30 years, Mick said he loved being able to work where he lived.
“To live and work in your hometown, that was just a dream come true. I figured I’d have another eight years or so before I retired.”
Hawke MP Sam Rae said he wrote to Sunbury Coaches to share his grave concern and to request an urgent meeting.
“I am deeply concerned that a worker would be terminated for caring for our community,” he said.
“Mick’s good deed showed his concern for Sunbury locals.”
Matthew Baird, the managing director of Sunbury Coach’s parent company Donric Group, said they have always taken a zero-tolerance approach to mobile phone usage and this situation was no different.
“We received a complaint from a member of the public in relation to one of our drivers using a mobile phone whilst driving,” he said.
“Safety and our reputation for safety and compliance is our number one priority. Mick’s actions directly compromised this, despite his claims that he was trying to warn people of the flooded road.”
Mr Baird disputed Mick’s claim that the vehicle was parked and said it was still running and still in gear.
“All buses are equipped with our private-channel radios which broadcast to all other buses. Mick made no effort to contact our operations team or his colleagues to alert them to the flooded road.
“It is hard to believe that Mick had honest intentions to warn the public, yet made no effort to warn his own colleagues of the hazard.”
Petition: shorturl.at/nrvG7
