By Daisy Billington, Fourth Year, Politics and Spanish
The lives of both First Bus drivers and passengers in Bristol and Wales were put in danger by the three different accounts of vandalization that occurred on Halloween Night (October 31).
Most concerningly, in all cases large objects were reported to have been aimed directly at the bus drivers. As of yet no injuries have been reported but panic has ensued amongst First Bus as they feared more attacks could follow, and bus routes were subsequently suspended.
Rob Pymm, Commercial Director at First Wales and West, has commented on the situation as a ‘disgraceful’ act carried out against the drivers and customers of First Bus.
He drew attention to the terrible risk entailed by throwing such heavy objects at high-speed vehicles. The damage that has been done will require repairs that will cost the company ‘thousands of pounds’, cause delays on multiple bus routes and undoubtfully leave those who experienced the events feeling fearful.
The images taken of the physical impact on the buses, of both the Service 111 (Llanelli to Swansea) in Wales and the Service 70 (Hengrove to the University of the West of England) in Bristol, adequately show the degree of damage caused.
Rob Pymm made a statement apologising for the inconvenience caused by the incidents, noting: ’All we can do is apologise and reassure the public that we will resume a normal service as soon as possible.’
He explains that: ‘we’re committed to protecting our drivers and customers, even if that means stopping services for safety reasons’.
Updates on when services will return to the usual schedule can be found on the First Bus app in the meantime.
Those responsible for the attacks have not yet been identified but Rob Pymm assures that First Bus is taking all the necessary steps to hold them accountable:‘We have reported the incidents to the police and we are reviewing our on-board CCTV.’
Also, the Service 6 bus in Wales was also forced to a halt to avoid crashing into a costumed member of the public who was stood in the middle of the road.
Featured image: First Bus
Have you been affected by the recent wave of vandalism on First Bus?
