An angry Dublin Bus passenger has hit out at the "unacceptable abuse" one of their drivers had to face on a late night bus on Monday.
The driver was said to be racially abused by two young female passengers when he failed to stop at a bus stop - despite being told by the passengers in question that it was the wrong one.
David R. Pollard told Dublin Live that their black bus driver was called a 'n*****' several times throughout the incident.
He told Dublin Live: "It was around 10:30pm on Monday 12 August on the 40 bus heading to Charlestown.
"I was sitting upstairs in front of where the passengers were at the back of the bus.
"The young women initially pressed the button to ring the bell to notify the driver that they wanted to get off.
"Then, they changed their minds and shouted from the top that they wanted the next stop."
When the driver continued to drive on, the women went downstairs and decided to shout at the driver to stop the bus on the road immediately, despite their being no designated stop.
David continues: "There was no bus stop at this point so he continued to drive.
"They started to scream at him. They called him a 'black bastard' and continued to verbally abuse him until he stopped.
"Then as they got off the bus, they screamed multiple times at him using the 'n' word.
"The driver did not retaliate verbally, and when I went down before my stop to ask him was he OK, he told me that this happens regularly on that route and that drivers have had beer thrown on them.
"But he told me he was OK and thanked me for asking him. He just seemed like he wanted to do his job."
In a statement to David, a spokeswoman said that Dublin Bus were investigating the matter.
They said: "We take a grave view of any anti-social behaviour on our buses and we are aware the such incidents reflect poorly on our organisation.
"I can assure you that all reports regarding anti-social behaviour are taken very seriously and investigated thoroughly.
"I have informed the supervisor of our Zero Tolerance Unit who travel frequently on all services and passed him a copy of your complaint. This matter is now under investigation.
"The Chief Inspector will try to identify the individuals and whatever action is deemed necessary to prevent a repeat or recurrence will be taken."
