Youths forcibly board and damage city bus

Driver ‘emotionally distraught' after suffering racial abuse

ATauranga bus driver has been left “emotionally distraught” after youths forced their way onboard, hurling racial abuse and smashing the rearview mirror.

It’s the latest in a series of violent incidents at city bus interchanges that have prompted drivers to bypass stops if they feel their safety is at risk.

First Union organiser Graham Mckean said the driver arrived at the Farm St bus interchange by the Bayfair Shopping Centre in Mount Maunganui on Thursday evening.

Seven or eight youths ran out in front of the bus, forcing the driver to stop. They then forced their way onboard and hurled obscenities at him.

“They stopped the bus doors from closing and gave him racial abuse. They smashed up the rearview mirror,” Mckean said.

“It came about from him refusing to let them on the bus because he recognised a few of them.”

Mckean said the driver was left shaken and stranded as the broken mirror meant the bus could not be legally driven, so he had to wait for a mechanic to come and repair it.

“He was really quite emotionally distraught. It upset me something shocking.”

Police say officers responded to a report of youths damaging a bus about 5.15pm, but the offenders had moved on.

“The group returned to the area around 6pm and police attended the scene but the bus and the youths had already left,” she said.

Police would make inquiries into the incident.

The driver was not at work yesterday but his employer NZ Bus has offered counselling and further support. On May 6, drivers began boycotting three bus stops — Willow St, Farm St and 217 Maunganui Rd — if young people were congregating because they felt unsafe due to incidents of violence