Train driver attacked

AN INJURED Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) train driver drove with pieces of glass in his eyes to safety after an assailant shattered the front window of his train with a brick. He was driving into Du Toit railway station near Stellenbosch when the attack occurred, the United National Transport Union (Untu) said yesterday. Willem Spence, 52, an Untu member who had been driving trains for the past 27 years, was driving slowly and had just passed a squatter camp near the station at about 11.45pm when he saw the attacker in front of him on the railway line, Untu general secretary Steve Harris said. The brick shattered the window and pieces of glass flew into his eyes. He also had several cuts on his face and arms. Spence decided to continue to the Stellenbosch station because he could not see any police or security guards at Du Toit station to assist him. His train was filled with commuters. At Stellenbosch station, police and security guards assisted the injured train driver. He was taken to hospital, where pieces of glass were removed from his eyes. Spence would be on sick leave for a week before the doctor could check his eyes again, Harris said. “It has become life threatening to drive our trains. We are under siege from criminals who know that we are soft targets. As train drivers, we can no longer focus on normal train safety and the safety of the passengers we carry, as we constantly must be on the lookout for criminals,” Spence told Harris. Spence used to work as a train driver on the notorious central line between Cape Town and Khayelitsha, but asked Prasa’s human resources department to transfer him to a “safe” route after he was attacked several times. Harris said attacks on the crews were no longer limited to specific routes. Criminals were targeting the drivers on routes in the Western Cape, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, he pointed out. – ANA