I can’t work with you a moment longer Bus boss sends memo to entire staff telling them they are out of a job
THE boss of a bus firm fired every one of his employees by email – telling them: “I am quitting to pursue my dream of not having to work here.”
Fed-up Sydney Hardy, 57, told staff he was shutting the whole place down because he could not bear to put up with them “a moment longer”.
He warned the gates of the depot would be locked if they tried to turn up and advised them to stay in bed and have a long lie in instead.
Mr Hardy, managing director of Somerset-based Nippy Bus, gave staff a piece of his mind in a memo announcing he was quitting after 13 years.
He wrote: “There is a difference between giving up and knowing when you have had enough.
“I have had enough and realise I cannot work with you, the people I employ, a moment longer.
“There comes a time in any relationship when you just have to say ‘ **** it’, say goodbye and move on. This is my time! I am quitting to pursue my dream of not having to work here.
“All staff should now consider themselves dismissed/redundant.
Disgusting
“The gates are now closed and will not open so you can stay in your scratchers and have a lie in.”
A brief note on the company’s website said it had ceased operating with immediate effect and that it had appointed agents to release assets and discharge liabilities.
The firm, with headquarters in Yeovil, employed 27 full and part-time drivers and ran several routes across Somerset and Dorset.
It went to a number of isolated rural villages and provided services for schoolchildren and college students.
Driver Steve Atkins, 61, said the company had been forced to cut the number of routes it operated when some staff went to work for rival companies First Bus and Stagecoach.
Steve described Mr Hardy as a private man who “didn’t have a good relationship” with staff, but admitted: “Nobody expected it.
“It was a shock to see an email saying you ain’t got a job tomorrow.
“It’s the end of the month and nothing’s gone in my account so I’ve had to cancel all my direct debits. I don’t know what’s gone through his mind.”
Fellow driver Dave English, 64, said: “It’s disgusting. Nobody has any Shock...driver Steve Atkins yesterday respect for him. He wasn’t a nice person to work with. You can’t just bury your head the way he has done and not confront the problems.
“He knew months ago that the company was in trouble in terms of the number of drivers we had. Everyone was doing long shifts.
“The memo makes it out that it’s the drivers’ fault this has happened, but without us he would never have had his company. He was always going off to Thailand on holidays.”
Somerset County Council is trying to organise alternative transport for stranded passengers and other local operators said they would cover as many routes as possible.
Rival firm Taylors Coach Travel, based in nearby Sparkford, said it would accept job applications from all Nippy Bus staff. Mr Hardy was not available for comment yesterday.