Bus drivers punched, ‘fart-sprayed’, abused on Newcastle services- Newcastle Herald
This story appeared in the Newcastle Herald on 19 February 2025
BUS drivers have been punched in the head, assaulted, abused and ‘fart-sprayed’ in a spate of disturbing incidents in Newcastle in the past week, the union says.
The attacks have prompted urgent calls for increased safety measures to be rolled out across the network to combat the “out of control” situation.
Rail Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) divisional president Peter Grech was in Newcastle on February 18 and was speaking to drivers.
The Newcastle Herald reported one driver was punched while on a school run just after 7am on Thursday morning after three people, believed to be teenage boys, who had been fighting were kicked off the bus at New Lambton Heights.
The group went on to cause a “disturbance to other passengers” on a second bus before it stopped at Glendale and the boys forced open the back door and assaulted the driver in broad daylight, police said.
Specialist officers from the Police Transport Command have been investigating the assaults.
Mr Grech said he received another call on Friday afternoon reporting a driver in the Newcastle area had been sprayed with what he understood to be ‘fart spray’ by a person wearing a school uniform.
He said he had been told of five serious safety incidents in total across those two days, with three on Thursday and two on Friday, and further disruptions were reported at Wallsend on Saturday night.
He said incidents were a regular occurrence and not limited to one location.
“It’s really escalated over the last few days … the drivers obviously are going out to do their job and they’re trying to keep people safe,” Mr Grech told the Herald.
“Anything goes, it’s out of control.”
It’s understood the driver who was punched in the head was able to return to work this week.
Mr Grech said drivers were vulnerable alone on buses and the high rate of fare evasion in the Newcastle area often sparked incidents of aggression.
He said local union delegates were so fed up that they want to close the gates and not leave the depot.
“Everyone’s at wit’s end,” Mr Grech said.
“We all want to go to work and go home and be safe doing it.
“These aren’t just statistics – these are real people being put at risk while providing an essential service to our community, yet they’re being subjected to abuse while doing it.”
Mr Grech encouraged schools to educate students about bus safety and urged the community to respect drivers.
He said violent incidents affected other passengers too.
All Newcastle Transport buses, operated by Keolis Downer, have CCTV on board but Mr Grech said proactive action was urgently needed.
The RTBU wants the private operator to roll out safety measures like seeking extra police assistance across the network during high-risk periods.
The union also wants to see an increase in the presence of revenue officers to manage fair compliance and reduce driver confrontation and improved reporting systems to track and respond to safety threats.
Mr Grech said he would like to see security or support people based across ‘corridors’ in the Newcastle Transport network to respond to incidents.
The call for help comes during Bus Safety Week.
A spokesperson for Keolis Downer Hunter said safety procedures were in place, all incidents were being monitored and the organisation was working closely with police to assist investigations.
“The safety of our people and customers is our top priority and we are providing support to staff after the incidents that have occurred over the past week,” they said in a statement.
“We are working with staff to identify areas to deploy the Authorised Officer team to provide additional support to the team on the network.”
They did not respond to a question about the number of driver assaults in 2025.
The spokesperson said Bus Safety Week was a timely reminder that verbal or physical aggression towards public transport staff and customers will not be tolerated.