Bus driver ‘called passenger a puff’ and ‘threatened to smash his phone’. He was just trying to get home from work
Ryan Cox, 28, claims a bus driver for First South Yorkshire called him a “puff” because he told the driver he left a bus stop too early. (Instagram/@ryanleehilton)
A bus company has launched an investigation after a passenger alleged a driver called him a “puff” and a “freaky looking weirdo” before threatening to “stomp” on his phone.
Ryan Cox, 28, told Sheffield-based news outlet The Star that the incident occurred as he tried to grab a First South Yorkshire bus after finishing work on Sunday (23 May).
He said he was a “few steps away from the bus” when he saw the driver look at him and drive off. Cox said he boarded another bus and eventually ran for the initial bus, which was the one he needed.
When he got on the First South Yorkshire bus, Cox told the driver he left his stop “early”. He claims that the driver denied this.
Cox told The Star: “I wasn’t waiting to make a scene – I just wanted to make him aware because the next one would have been an hour later.”
Cox alleges that the driver told him to “shut up and get on or get off my bus”. He claims he asked for the driver’s number so as to report him to the firm, only for the driver started hurling abuse at him.
Cox claims the man called him a “puff” and said he was a “freaky looking weirdo”.
He told The Star that he took a picture of the driver on his phone, alleging that the driver told him: “I’ll stomp on your phone if you don’t delete that photo.”
Rob Hughes, operations director at First South Yorkshire, told The Star that the firm had been informed about the incident via Twitter. He said the tweet concerned a “customer who is alleging that homophobic language was directed towards them when in a conversation with one of our bus drivers”.
Hughes added: “We take all matters such as this very seriously and will be undertaking a thorough investigation into the allegations and appropriate action will be taken once the driver has been identified and an interview has taken place.”
