Auckland bus attack: Driver told he was a servant, abused and punched on Avondale route in racially charged attack, suspect at large

All Auckland bus driver Rajnish Trehan wanted was for an unruly passenger who refused to pay to stop shouting and show some respect to other public transport users.

But his request for some common decency was met first with the passenger saying, “This is my country, you are my servant”, and then with violence.

After his racially charged tirade, the man unleashed a vicious punch to Trehan’s face that left him requiring hospital treatment and urgent dental care for a dislodged tooth.

“I’m totally shattered,” said Trehan.

Auckland bus driver Rajnish "Raj" Trehan suffered facial injuries after he was attacked by a passenger following racial abuse at about 10am on Saturday on the Number 18 bus in Avondale near Great North Rd.

He spoke to the Herald from hospital on Saturday afternoon, following the assault that morning shortly after 10am on his Number 18 bus, a route from the city to West Auckland via Avondale.

Police are investigating and appealing to the public for help. The suspect remained at large at time of publication.

Trehan said the man was the last of three passengers to board his bus in Great North Road, Avondale.

As is common, he did not tap his Auckland Transport Hop card to pay, Trehan said.

“I said, ‘Mate, you need to tag on’.”

The man responded saying he was only going to New Lynn, just down the road. Trehan said he still needed to tag on.

He again refused to tag on and began shouting, Trehan said.

The driver relented, as Trehan said they are often forced to with unruly and unstable passengers. It’s not worth the trouble sometimes, he said.

Trehan said he told him he could go and have a seat, but remembered telling the man: “Don’t shout at me, show some respect because there are other passengers in my bus.”

The passenger responded by saying that Trehan should instead show him some respect “because this country is my country”.

“He told me that ‘this is my country, you are my servant’,” Trehan recalled.

Raj Trehan has been driving buses in Auckland for five years and has seen his share of unruly passengers. But until now he'd never been attacked.

Trehan said he again asked the man to take a seat and was looking in his rear-view mirror about to pull out when, without warning, the man came from behind and punched him in the chin.

Photos at the scene show a distraught Trehan bleeding from his facial wound. Later photos taken in hospital show a front tooth mostly dislodged and a gaping wound to his chin that required five stitches.

Trehan said the assailant ran off as he pushed the emergency button and told the control centre he had been assaulted and needed assistance from police and ambulance. He described the assailant as tall, in his mid-40s, and of Māori or Pacific Island descent, with short hair and a tattoo on his neck.

Tramways Union secretary Gary Froggatt said police took 40 minutes to arrive while a Hato Hone St John ambulance never arrived. Police said in a statement they arrived at the scene seven minutes after they were notified of the incident.

The gaping wound after the violent attack was almost through to the other side of the skin, according to Trehan's wife.

A St John spokesman said the service was called at 10.17am. “All ambulances were committed at the time and the first available ambulance was en route to the scene at 10.34am,” the spokesman said.

That crew was diverted to a “higher priority incident” at 10.44am and another ambulance was assigned at 10.53am. But two minutes later, the responding ambulance was stood down by police, who told St John they were no longer required, the spokesman said.

Trehan said a supervisor came to the scene and drove the bus back to the depot, where he waited for some time without medical care. He was not offered a ride to the hospital by his management, he alleges.

“I was bleeding, I was pain,” he said.

The driver of five years’ experience said he had to call his wife, who drove more than half an hour north from Papakura to pick him up and take him to hospital, where he finally received pain relief at about 1pm.

Trehan said bus drivers in Auckland had to put up with a lot.

Trehan's facial wound required five stitches. Urgent dental care will follow for a dislodged tooth.

“Being a bus driver means we have to tolerate so many things but we just keep on, put it in one ear and let it go through the other ear,” Trehan said.

“Because we have to, we have to feed our families.”

Trehan said many people refuse to tag on. Drunk, smelly, offensive and abusive passengers are not uncommon, he said.

He questioned why there weren’t more transport officers on buses, as are commonly seen on trains. They are on buses but Trehan said he rarely sees them. Trehan said he would also support plastic barriers in buses to protect drivers.

Late on Saturday afternoon, Trehan had just received five stitches for the wound in his chin. His wife Monika said the wound was so deep it was almost through to his lower teeth. He had been referred to Middlemore Hospital for urgent dental care for a tooth that had become dislodged, she said.

Auckland Transport public transport operations group manager Rachel Cara said it was aware of the assault and the organisation was helping police in their inquiries.

“Our bus operator is ensuring the driver has the support they need,” she said in a statement supplied via a spokesman.

Cara said the council-controlled-organisation had taken a number of measures to improve public safety.

Those measures included recently hiring 12 more transport officers for hubs, installing CCTV, GPS, and panic buttons, working more closely with police at “hot spot” locations and a plan to retrofit safety screens to 80% of the bus fleet over the next two years, Cara said.

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