If You Don't Have The Full Fare, Just Punch The Driver

An alarming story came my way, ironically just moments after I'd blogged about Thamesdown's exact fares policy.

There was I thinking about the frustrations of getting on a bus and finding that you don't have the correct change when I came across a news report about someone getting on a bus to find that they didn't have the correct fare.

Under similar circumstances, any one of us might be tempted to ask the driver to let us off that last 20p, or ask a kindly fellow passenger for a sub, or if you are like me then you just get off, find a cash machine and a newsagent, buy a tube of mints and wait for the next bus (as I did last time I travelled between Coventry and Birmingham).

Unfortunately for the driver of a bus in Seattle's University district recently, his frustrated passenger decided to treat him as a punchbag.

According to SeattlePI.com, the passenger had boarded the bus with only $1.50 of the $2.50 needed to get to his workplace. Angry that he'd be late for work, the man allegedly lost his temper and began beating up the driver, who promptly lost control of his bus on the icy road and ended up in a tree.

The poor driver was carried off to hospital with bruises, a swollen face and a broken leg while his assailant, bizarrely, was still sitting impatiently on the bus when the police arrived to find out why a bus was parked up a tree. He was quickly taken into custody.

Apparently, this particular bus was equipped with a video camera, so not only will it make the prosecution straightforward, it should also mean we'll be able to enoy the full horror of the incident on one of those police caught-on-camera TV shows I'm so addicted to.