Cocaine on banknotes led bus driver to fail drug test
A bus driver sacked after testing positive for cocaine has won a substantial pay out by proving the drug came from bank notes handed over by passengers.
Alan bailes was fired by First bus after 22 years of employment when he failed a saliva test – despite insisting he has never taken drugs.
His only explanation was that the trace of the Class A drug had come from the hundreds of pounds in cash he handled that day. It is thought up to 88 per cent of bank notes in the UK carry traces of illegal drugs.
After a two-and-a-half year legal battle, Mr bailes, 58, has won a fivefigure sum from First bus, which fired him for ‘gross misconduct’ in June 2012.
To clear his name, the grandfather-of-three spent £440 on a more accurate hair follicle test through his GP – which proved he had not had drugs in his system for at least 90 days.
Despite this First bus refused to reinstate him. It must now pay out after its appeal against a court ruling of unfair dismissal failed.
Mr bailes and his wife, Rita, had to borrow money from friends and family to cover mortgage payments while they took the company to an employment tribunal, which ruled he was wrongly dismissed and condemned First bus’s ‘flawed investigation’.
Last night Mr bailes said: ‘We’ve been left feeling stressed, incredibly worried and upset, all for something I didn’t do.
‘I’m sure First bus don’t like the fact that the little man took them on and beat them… but I was accused of doing something I knew I hadn’t done and I was determined to fight back.’
Mr bailes, from bristol, was asked by First bus to take a saliva test in May 2012 after an anonymous complaint that he had driven under the influence of cannabis.
He had not washed his hands before the test and had eaten his sandwiches after counting the cash, increasing the likelihood of the drug being transferred to his mouth. Mr bailes said: ‘I hadn’t smoked cigarettes for 16 years and I have never taken drugs in my life. I took the test and ten days later it came back with cocaine. I couldn’t believe it.’
Following his dismissal, Mr bailes’s family found a Daily Mail article about traces of illegal drugs on bank notes. During the tribunal an expert witness presented evidence that the positive result was down to ‘sample contamination’ from the money Mr bailes handled.
Employment judge Christa Christensen said: ‘The respondent [First bus] was aware that bank notes in general circulation are or could be contaminated by cocaine. This in turn means that it was incumbent on the respondent, as part of a reasonable investigatory process, to investigate the possibility that that reality may have some significance to the claimant’s positive cocaine drug test.’
A First West of England spokesman said: ‘We believe that we followed due process throughout.’
‘I was determined to fight back’