Five Asian Schoolgirls Have Been Awarded 75 Pounds In Compensation By The Local Bus Company After Allegedly Being Racially Abused By A Bus Driver

Account of an incident in which Asian school children received discriminatory treatment and abuse from a bus driver.

Anglia TV reporter Owen Spencer-Thomas describes a racist incident on a bus carrying children home from school on the first day of the autumn term, filmed at the locations where it happened a year earlier. Five Asian girls in the age range 11 – 15 boarded the bus, and before they reached their destination, the driver stopped the bus and checked their tickets. No other passengers were challenged. The driver told the girls that they had failed to pay the full fare as the ticket price had increased by one penny to 23 pence over the summer break. The girls were ordered off the bus and racially abused by the driver and by other white children who remained on board. The girls were left shocked and hurt by this incident. Patricia Brain, Headmistress of Kettering School for Girls, says it is interesting that the complaint was not raised by the Asian girls but by a white pupil who witnessed what happened and was disgusted by it. Backed by the School and the Commission for Racial Equality, the girls’ parents pursued a case which has been settled out of court. Each girl is to receive a letter of apology and £75 from the bus company, United Counties. Paul Crofts, Community Relations Officer with Wellingborough District Community Relations Council, says the level of compensation is pitiful and it is disappointing that the driver was not disciplined over the offence. They would like the bus drivers’ union, the Transport and General Workers’ Union, to investigate further. There was no one available to comment from the bus company.

Keywords

Racism; Racial harassment; Racial abuse; Racial discrimination; Children; Public transport