BOSS WHO SNAPPED
Bus firm chief tells his 27 staff: I have had enough. I can’t work with you lot a moment longer ... you’re all fired!
A BUS company director sacked his entire staff with a farewell email telling them: ‘I have had enough ... I cannot work with you a moment longer.’
Sydney Hardy, 57, sent an internal memo to 27 drivers telling them that they should ‘ consider themselves dismissed/redundant’ – and treat themselves to a lie-in.
He had become aggrieved by the number of drivers defecting from his Nippy Bus firm for bigger rival companies such as FirstBus and Stagecoach.
His decision to close the company has affected around 300 children in Somerset who rely on the bus service to get to and from school.
Mr Hardy announced that he was leaving after 13 years as managing director of the Yeovil company in a frank email sent to staff on Sunday which was headed ‘The End’.
It said: ‘There is a difference between giving up and knowing when you have had enough. I have had enough and realise I
‘My dream of not working here’
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.’
His parting note added: ‘The gates are now closed and will not open so you [staff] can stay in your scratchers Monday and have a lie-in.’
A brief note on the company’s website, dated October 29, said it had ceased operating with immediate effect. It added: ‘ The company has appointed agents who will now work to release the company’s assets and discharge its liabilities.’
Nippy Bus driver Steve Atkins, 61, from Martock, said yesterday: ‘Nobody expected it. It was a shock to see an email saying you ain’t got a job tomorrow.’
The company had 17 buses and operated several public routes across Somerset and Dorset to small villages not otherwise covered by public transport, as well as school and college bus services.
Mr Atkins described Mr Hardy as a private man who ‘didn’t have a good relationship’ with his staff.
He added: ‘Drivers haven’t been paid yet for last month’s work. Everybody’s got mortgages and bills to pay. I’ve had to ring up and cancel all my direct debits. There’s no way I can cover them. The main thing is to cover the rent.
‘ I don’t know what’s gone through the man’s mind.
‘We’ve had problems recruiting drivers, but there are driver shortages all over Somerset. The industry is trapped. The wages aren’t so good. The council, who have had their funding cut, can’t afford to pay the bus companies to run their services.’
Dave English, 64, a driver at Nippy Bus for nearly nine years, said: ‘It’s disgusting the way it’s been handled.
‘Nobody has any 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 but he just expected us to do them.
‘The memo makes it out that it’s the drivers’ fault that this has happened, but without us he would never have had his company.’ The company had been struggling since a number of drivers left to join larger rival companies such as FirstBus and Stagecoach in 2011.
Nippy Bus had been forced to cut the number of routes it operated as a result.
Somerset company Taylor’s Coach Travel has said it will accept job applications from all former Nippy Bus staff.
Somerset County Council stepped in on Monday to organise alternative transport for those affected by the collapse of the firm. Other local operators said they were trying to ‘ pick up the pieces’ by covering as many routes as possible.
Mr Hardy was unavailable for comment yesterday.