Change of heart: Burnaby bus driver can keep wearing his Santa suit, says employer

There is a happy ending to the story of a Burnaby bus driver who was denied his right to wear a Santa suit on the job by his employer.

Fifty-two-year-old Kirk Rockwell has been wearing his Santa suit to work over the holiday season for the past 16 years, but this year Coast Mountain Bus revoked his permission to don the red suit.

Rockwell said he was very disappointed and vowed to keep wearing the Santa suit to work in violation of the company policy.

WATCH: Driver Kirk Rockwell talks about his decision on Unfiltered with Jill Krop

But Vice President of Operations for Coast Mountain Bus Stan Sierpina told Global News today the company had a change of heart and decided to allow Rockwell to keep wearing his suit.

“We want to let our customers and the public know that we will continue to allow our transit operator to wear his Santa suit while on duty,” says Sierpina. “We recognize that we have underestimated how much our customers value this holiday spirit. It was certainly never our intent to offend the public in any way, shape or form.”

Sierpina says they will now review their uniform policy in light of the incident.

Rockwell says he was pleased to hear the news. His ridership today seemed to double with people getting on the bus to support him.

He says he was overwhelmed by the support of the public and his co-workers, and plans to keep wearing his suit until December 24th as usual.