Dublin Bus driver assaulted by colleague after complaint about untidiness
A bus driver, who claimed he had been bullied and assaulted by a colleague, has been awarded €22,000 damages against Dublin Bus in the Circuit Civil court.
Mihai Pascu told the court he had been driving for the company since arriving in Ireland from Romania 12 years ago and occasionally asked the driver on the shift before him not to leave the cab in a dirty condition.
Pascu, of Foxborough Rise, Lucan, Co Dublin, told his counsel David Boughton that on occasions he found bits of paper, a banana skin and cigarette butts in the drivers cab when he would take over from his colleague.
He said he had brought the matter of untidiness up with his colleague in the crew room at the Phibsboro, Dublin, depot and told him he often smelled cigarette smoke in the cab.
Mr Pascu (aged 54) said his colleague had invited him out of the crew room to apologise and shake his hand and when they got outside he had been punched in the jaw, knocked unconscious to the ground and kicked in the legs and shoulder.
He said he had been taken by ambulance to the Mater Hospital and had been treated and detained overnight. He had been out of work for three months as a result of his injuries.
Mr Boughton, who appeared with solicitors Howard Synnott for Pascu, told the court both his client and the driver who assaulted him had been sacked by Dublin Bus but had been reinstated on appeal. The other driver concerned had since retired.
Judge Jacqueline Linnane said she accepted Mr Pascu’s account of what had taken place during the incident in August 2009 and liability rested with Dublin Bus.
He had to have a tooth implant as a result of facial injuries and had suffered stress.
