Passengers freaked by bus rage incident, man claims

WILD RIDE? Go Bus management is refusing to comment after an alleged road rage incident recently. PHOTO/FILE

A passenger on a Go Bus service claims he was left horrified after the driver cut off another vehicle, shouted abuse out the window and then hit a pedestrian.

The man, who did not want to be named, caught a Taradale to Napier City service about 11am a fortnight ago with his children.

He said the driver cut off a car when pulling out after picking up a passenger, then stuck his head out the window to shout abuse after the driver of the car beeped its horn.

"I was just thinking 'what are you doing?'," he said.

When the bus stopped again to let another passenger off, the car that had been cut off stopped behind it, he said.

"One of the young guys in the car got out and walked up the side of the bus. He was standing on the footpath and the driver drove the bus into him.

"It wasn't at any speed. He had come to a stop and started to back up, and jammed on the brakes right after he had hit him so he didn't actually run him over. My kids were freaking out."

The man said he advised the driver to call police, but the driver ignored him and carried on driving.

"Everyone was freaking out by that point."

When the bus reached the end of Kennedy Rd, near the train tracks, the driver of the car that had earlier been cut off ran a stop sign and stopped in the path of the bus, he said.

"We were stopped on the train tracks and there were these young guys outside wanting to beat the driver up. He wasn't going to get out but he wasn't going to let anyone else out. We were stuck on the train tracks at 11.30am, for about 20 minutes."

The man said the police eventually turned up after receiving a call from a member of the public, saying a bus was stuck on the train tracks.

"When they turned up I just grabbed the kids and got off the bus, they were crying by then. There were about six police cars and 10 police officers."

He took the children to McDonald's and later called the bus company.

"I was not too impressed with the whole situation. They told me just to leave it, that it's all been sorted by police. They said the driver of the car had been issued a ticket for reckless driving. They said they would have a meeting with the driver."

The man said he was shocked at the behaviour of the bus driver and it made him think twice about taking public transport.

"As a bus driver with 38 people on your bus, you shouldn't be doing that kind of thing. That is why I'm so angry. Public transport obviously needs a closer look at. They have cameras in taxis, I don't know why they can't have them in buses."

When contacted by Hawke's Bay Today, Go Bus refused to comment.