BUS driver John Turnbull was sacked just three months before his retirement - for wearing a flat cap at the wheel.

Mr Turnbull, 64, who had an unblemished career, was shocked when he was told he was being dismissed from his £12,000-a-year job.

His only crime was to pull on a traditional cloth cap - as generations of his family had done before him - an icon of working class life in the North-East.

Bus company Stagecoach is anxious to keep up its modern image and Mr Turnbull's cap incurred the wrath of style-conscious bosses.

He started wearing the cap because he began to lose his hair and found that his head got cold when the bus doors were open.

Mr Turnbull, of Burnopfield, County Durham, said: "I think the decision was absolutely disgraceful and the height of pettiness.

"It was very cold in the driving cabs, especially with the doors opening and shutting all the time, and the heating didn't help.

"I wore every piece of uniform and kept to the dress code to the letter, but the hat became a point of principle.

"It is nothing more offensive than an ordinary flat cap, the sort worn by thousands of northerners, thousands of people across Britain - and Andy Capp."

Father-of-one John, who worked for London Transport and Northern Buses before joining Stagecoach, was suspended prior to his dismissal.

He wrote to the company managing director, John Conroy, the Health and Safety Executive, and approached his union, the TGWU, for help.

He said: "I don't think it is something you can understand unless you are bald, and as far as I am aware, Mr Conroy has all his own hair."

Mr Turnbull sought legal advice but was told a wrongful dismissal claim was likely to fail because his contract said he had to stick to company uniform.

He is now seeking another driving job and hopes to work on past his 65th birthday in October.

Madi Pilgrim, operations director for Stagecoach, said the company had given Mr Turnbull every opportunity to stop wearing his hat.

She said: "He was not wearing the correct uniform, and in my view we were being completely reasonable.

"We do not have any Sikh drivers, but if he had been wearing it on religious grounds, we would have allowed that. We asked him and he said he was not.

"Our cabs and vehicle are heated, they are in the 21st Century. We provide full uniform and that does not include caps."

Earlier this year, Stagecoach settled a landmark legal case after sacking a driver for taking time off to attend the birth of his son.