"I was spat on, punched on two occasions"

A YOUNG bus driver went to work to earn a living and provide a service.

I drove Brisbane City Council buses for 19 years and toward the end of my service, I feared for my safety on night shifts.

A YOUNG bus driver went to work to earn a living and provide a service.

At 9am, he pulled into a stop at Moorooka and some despicable moron got on board and doused him in a concoction of petrol and diesel and for no reason set him alight.

It gave this young man no hope of escape and it would have taken minutes to die an agonising death we could not comprehend, and for what reason? Just that he got up in the morning and went to work.

I drove Brisbane City Council buses for 19 years and toward the end of my service, I feared for my safety on night shifts, which previously I'd loved, where I experienced a slow escalation of violence.

I was spat on, punched on two occasions - one needing a hospital visit - and I am a woman.

My love of the job left me.

My brother drove buses here for Suncoast. He, too, was subjected to violence toward himself as have other drivers for just doing their job.

The Railway Bus And Tram Union has fought for years to ask for protection for its drivers.

It's now time that this was addressed. No one likes to see their driver behind a plastic cage but if it saves one more driver here or in Brisbane from assault or death for just going to work, so be it.

For Manmeet Sharma's family and friends, can I give my sincere condolences.

What truly horrible world are we living in?

ROBYN JAY

Mt Coolum

Originally published as "I was spat on, punched on two occasions"