Screams of pain didn't stop men from punching bus driver

By Hedy Khoo The double-decker bus had holes on its windscreen and two large web-like cracks across the tempered glass. The glass panel of the front door lay in a heap of shards and fragments on the ground. Pieces of glass fragments littered the driver's console. But the bus had not been in a road accident. It had been the target of two bullies who had deliberately attacked it. They battered the bus with their fists, then hurled beer bottles at it before smashing the glass door panel into smithereens with a beer crate. That wasn't all. After their destruction, they forced their way through the smashed door into the bus and pummelled the driver as about 20 passengers cowered in fear and screamed in horror. The road rage incident occurred at around 11pm last Wednesday when the bus captain of Service 87 saw a lorry blocking a bus stop at Hougang Avenue 3, near Block 106. Mr John Achin, 35, said he had earlier left Bedok Interchange and was heading towards Sengkang Interchange. "There were three passengers who wanted to alight, and some people at the bus-stop had also flagged down the bus," he told The New Paper. "But a white lorry parked at the bus stop was preventing buses from entering the bus bay. I tapped the horn once to alert the lorry driver and waited for him to move off." Instead of moving his vehicle, the lorry driver came out and gestured his arm angrily at Mr Achin. He beckoned at Mr Achin to get down from the five-month-old Volvo double-decker. When Mr Achin remained in his console, the lorry driver approached the bus and launched into an angry tirade, shouting and pounding his fists on the windscreen and the driver's window. "I was worried and activated the emergency button to alert the Operations Control Centre to the situation," Mr Achin said. He then saw the lorry driver storm off towards a nearby coffee shop. But his ordeal wasn't over. In fact, it had barely begun. The lorry driver suddenly reappeared with a crate of empty beer bottles. Said Mr Achin: "He was carrying it with both arms and threw the crate to the ground in front of the bus. I hurriedly got out of my driver's console. I knew there was trouble ahead. "He grabbed the beer bottles and started throwing them at the windscreen." The tempered glass began to give way from the impact. A beer bottle even got stuck in one of the holes on the windscreen. The passengers screamed. Those sitting near the front and waiting to alight fled to the rear of the bus where they huddled together.