Thugs assault bus driver

December 04, 2008

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VICIOUS thugs launched a savage attack on a bus driver when he tried to take pictures of the unruly teenagers after they refused to pay their fare.

The 42-year-old driver was left with permanently-impaired vision after a flurry of punches to his head as he drove the number 33 service along Parrin Lane in Eccles, Salford.

He is now thinking about resigning after 15 years as a bus driver.

The incident happened at 8.55pm on Friday November 28 when the Wigan to Manchester service passed through Salford.

He pulled up at a stop in Eccles where four people were waiting to board.

Three of them got on the bus, but the driver challenged them, believing one of them had a fake pass.

The driver switched off the engine, approached the trio and the teenager with the alleged fake pass refused to let the driver take a closer look.

He ordered them to get off but one of the thugs aimed a punch at the driver, who took out his mobile camera phone to take pictures of the three. The phone was snatched from the driver and more punches were thrown at him. He re-started the bus and drove off in panic.

The thugs threatened him with more violence and started lashing out at him as he drove towards Monton.

Fearful he would lose control of the bus, he stopped and the trio snatched his takings, smashed his wing mirror and ran off towards Worsley Road with the bag of cash.

Police are hunting three white teenagers.

One is said to be 5ft 9in, medium build, and about 16. He wore a light grey hooded top with a logo on the front. The second is 5ft 9in, medium build while the third is 16, and also of medium build. He wore a black jacket.

Det Con Paul Manivannan, of Swinton CID, said: "This was a disgraceful and unprovoked attack on a bus driver who was simply going about his job. This ordeal has left the victim covered in bruises and the vision in his left eye has been severely impaired and he may never recover from that.

"We're doing all we can to try and find these thugs, but we need the public's help.

"There were passengers on the bus at the time and people who may have seen this incident. I'm appealing to them to come forward. Please call us if you saw something that night or you recognise the descriptions."

Anyone who recognises the descriptions or has any further information is asked to contact Swinton CID on 0161 856 5351 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

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Showing comments 1 to 24 and replies | View All

Damon (04/12/2008 at 15:22)

Stories like this make me feel sick. One decent guy trying to do his job attached by a group of worthless * insert expletive here *

paul (04/12/2008 at 15:45)

I thought most buses were equipped with cttv and radio's these days?

If so there should be footage of the incident.

I could rant on forever about incidents such as these,but the bottom line is unless these thugs fear the punishment if caught then they will continue as they do unabated.

Bean B4, manchester (04/12/2008 at 16:05)

Are these the buses that we are expected to use once the contax comes in? I think not.

Hindsight (04/12/2008 at 16:27)

I'd be happy for CCTV to be installed on all Public Transport

Vote No if you want Gridlock, Tameside (04/12/2008 at 16:48)

In a decent society yobs would be too afraid of the wrath of the community to try anything. I have stood up to yobs on buses and continue to use them instead of running away, like some people appear to want to do.

Lobster, Manchester (04/12/2008 at 17:09)

So if people cannot afford to pay the con-tax, they are left with the option of getting on the bus full of these cretins.......Oh Wonderful !

Most of the time I get on public transport there are these undesireables wearing their Black & Grey tracksuit atire with their socks tucked in their trainers & music blaring out of their mobiles. They are like drones, all with the same anti-social mentality. Why can't we just put them on an island out of the way like the good old days !

Cllr Ken Hulme, Delph (04/12/2008 at 17:26)

Appalling behaviour.

But is it any wonder people don't see buses as a real alternative to the car. CCTV is OK but what about bringing back conductors or seeing inspectors and plain clothes police on the buses. Two way radios & alarms perhaps

I'm amazed at the drivers guts - isolated and on his own trying to do his job.

I don't have a car and I use public transport into Manchester quite a lot - I would be worried for the safety of my wife or anyone really travelling through North Manchester on the bus especially after dark.

Too dangerous to vote yes - It has to be No - for safety sake people still need their cars.

lizard (04/12/2008 at 17:44)

£who took out his mobile camera phone to take pictures of the three." With the huge profits bus companies make, and they are huge!, why isnt every bus carrying some fixed camera/recording device?, why should bus drivers have to resort to pulling out and using their own phone, putting themselves in even more danger from slime like this. The attempt to photograph the trash...for the benefit of who/whom?, can only be the company, who obviously could not care any less for its undervalued employees.
The goal to get more people on buses may result in targets met but the passengers will spend their days waiting for the driver less buses to move., as nobody would want such a dangerous job!.

Buzz, Moston (04/12/2008 at 17:54)

This is exactly the reason that I and many of my fellow ex-bus drivers left the job.
Ok, there might be CCTV, but that is usually only any good after the event. The driver still has to take the abuse.
There is already a shortage of bus drivers, so if the con charge does come in, I can envisage rows and rows of shiny new buses, but nobody to drive them!
Put it this way, if I was offered £50,000 a year to go back, it still wouldn't persuade me.

gladys rowbotham, Manchester (04/12/2008 at 17:57)

I hope the driver gets well soon - a true hero!

Mad Angela, St George's, Hulme , (04/12/2008 at 18:03)

Bring Back the Old Style Conductor with a Base Ball bat in his Trousers, that will stop em.

Phil Oldham (04/12/2008 at 19:16)

Once again a transport thread is twisted to an anti-TiF thread...

It is about time people stood up to the thugs (who are actually fewer and further between than the media will have you know, at least in my area!). Well done to the driver, and I hope he recovers quickly from his injuries.

Most buses are fitted with CCTV these days, it is the older buses, which are slowly actually being replaced with newer buses (pre-TiF) or converted to carry CCTV, that aren't....of which are used along the 33 route if I remember correctly.

meldroo, Oldham (04/12/2008 at 19:44)

How is it that in this age of increased security wherever you look, the one place it hasn't increased is on the bus services.Every bus should have a 2 man crew as they used to have when conductors were in place.These days the second man should be purely for a security presence. If the C charge goes through, with the increase in passengers the bus companies can certainly afford this.It would also help the unemployed situation.
Until such a scheme is in place, there is no way I will give up my car to use buses!

Pippa, Manchester (04/12/2008 at 19:48)

FUnny, I drove past a poster tonight that puzzled me - it said I'll vote yes so I'll be safer on he buses .......... Don't think TIF will make a blind bit of difference. All praise to the driver for standing up to them, but nothing's going to get done.

Pongo61 (04/12/2008 at 20:38)

To the able-bodied "other passengers" : SHAME ON YOU. People need to group together and take on these menaces. Reports of gangs of youths getting a good hiding and this sort of thing will soon stop.

Trudy, Bolton (04/12/2008 at 20:47)

Bring back conductors - make us all feel safer and it will create a few jobs

better off red (04/12/2008 at 22:35)

i wouldn't be surprised if they sued him for breaching their human rights for photographing them with the intent to identify them.

thaitanium (04/12/2008 at 23:11)

A disgrace of course and I along with everyone else want these thugs locked up and the key thrown in the ship canal.
The driver has been left with impared vision and he is "thinking" of giving up his job as a driver?
Oh please don't just what we need a driver with impared vision driving around.

Audenshaw Bob (05/12/2008 at 08:40)

What we need is bus marshals who just sit there like a normal passenger but when they see these idiots they should get in there in nullify them.

You see yobs like these on the buses and trams all the time. If you ask them to take their feet off the seats or turn down their music you get threatened.

I don't want to be thratened and equally I don't want to just sit there and put up with it so I give up on public transport given the society that we have here in the UK. There is an underclass that just don't understand right and wrong.

The Kippax Fart, lingering around your nostrils (05/12/2008 at 09:27)

mad angela. that wasnt a baseball bat o_O

Carol Farrell, Worcester (05/12/2008 at 10:37)

Lobster, the thugs are already on an island. Great Britain! In Kidderminster, Worcester this week some poor woman drove her car into her path and when she opened the door some yobs put her in a headlock and demanded her keys. Nobody is safe anywhere. Don't be fooled by NuLabour, out of chaos comes order, and believe me, they are intent on upping the chaos to bring us to our knees before we become state controlled. Open your frightened eyes, NOW!

salford attack (05/12/2008 at 19:12)

hahaha "Open your frightened eyes, NOW! "
im not frightend,its been like this for ages!
dont get me wrong its a bit rum out n about at the moment but its hardly the kind of warzone half of you lot make it out to be

Phil Turner (05/12/2008 at 20:51)

If the No Vote campaign needed a bonus,this was it.Who want's to share a bus with people like this?

lizard (06/12/2008 at 13:58)

"Every bus should have a 2 man crew", The bus companies will not pay for this.

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