British Columbia bus company allows driver to dress as Santa

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- A Canadian bus company has reversed a dress code policy to allow a driver to return to his tradition of dressing as Santa behind the wheel.

Coast Mountain Bus of Metro Vancouver announced Thursday officials have reversed an earlier decision to ban bus driver Kirk Rockwell from dressing as Santa Claus while on the job and the dress code policy forbidding festive attire will be reviewed, QMI Agency reported Friday.

"We really, really underestimated how much our customers and the public valued his holiday spirit," Stan Sierpina, vice president of the British Columbia bus company, said of Rockwell. "It was certainly never our intent to offend the public."

The dress code policy, which was drawn up last year, does not allow drivers to wear anything more elaborate than a Santa hat or a festive tie.

The announcement Thursday was applauded by Nathan Woods of the Unifor 111, the union representing the company's drivers.

"In the greater scheme of things, I guess the victory really does come later on in terms of if the employer is going to make decisions that haven't completely considered how they will affect employees," he said.