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‘Pulled out a handgun’: Man charged after allegedly threatening bus driver
By Cloe Read
A bus driver has allegedly been threatened, reportedly with a handgun, by a man who police say had earlier damaged another bus.
The Transport Workers Union described Tuesday’s incident as shocking.
It caused chaos across the network, with routes in the Brassall area, in Ipswich, diverted as a result.
Multiple Ipswich buses were diverted after the alleged incident.
The incident was reported on social media, with the wife of the bus driver describing how a person had been “standing in the middle of the road and pulled out a handgun” and pointed it at the driver.
A 37-year-old man was charged over the two alleged disturbances on separate buses along Pine Mountain Road in Brassall.
Police will allege the man started behaving erratically on a bus and damaged the doors about 2pm.
“It will be further alleged around 4.30pm, the same man flagged down a second bus and threatened a driver with what appeared to be a weapon, before again, leaving the scene on foot,” police said in a statement.
“No one was physically injured.”
The man was taken into custody at a Brassall property about 8.30pm on Tuesday and has been charged with going armed so as to cause fear and commit public nuisance.
He was scheduled to appear in the Ipswich Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
The woman’s post detailed how her husband was abused daily while on the job, and previously had been spat on and had drinks thrown at him. She said a knife had been thrown at him on another occasion, cutting his leg.
A bus driver was allegedly threatened in Ipswich on Tuesday.
“No one deserves this treatment, yet it is happening daily to honest people just trying to do their job,” her post reads.
In a statement, the Transport Workers Union said Bus Queensland had refused state government funding for “safety officers” on its buses.
“This incident has occurred on a route operated by Bus Queensland, who have pulled government-funded safety officers off their buses, abandoning their drivers and the community that rely on these services,” the union’s director of organising Joshua Millroy said.
“Bus Queensland’s complete disregard for the safety of their drivers and passengers will lead to devastating consequences. It is a matter of time until there is another serious incident, injury or worse.”
When contacted for comment, Bus Queensland deferred to Translink.
In a statement, Translink said Bus Queensland had participated in a trial with Translink for safety officers, which began in 2020.
Translink said through the trial, it had determined a more cost-effective option, the “Network Officer program”. It claimed to have engaged with Bus Queensland on three occasions to transfer to the new program but Bus Queensland had “declined the opportunity to negotiate on the new contractual framework as other bus operators have chosen to do”.
A Translink spokesman said the government was disappointed Bus Queensland had chosen not to participate in the transition.
Translink said it would continue to deploy officers to manage fare evasion, safety and security on the Bus Queensland network.