Bus in London (illustration)
Bus in London (illustration)Thinkstock

Transport for London (TfL) said on Wednesday it will take “appropriate action” against a driver who failed to respond when a commuter on his bus shouted anti-Semitic abuse at young children and passengers, the Jewish Chronicle (JC) reports.

Paul Edwards, correspondence manager for buses at TfL, said, according to the report, “I can assure you that this matter has been fully investigated by both Arriva, the bus operator, and the Metropolitan Police.”

“The driver involved has since been identified and interviewed and Arriva will take appropriate action to ensure that any future incident is handled more appropriately,” he added.

The driver failed to act when JC reporter Rosa Doherty phoned the police for help after witnessing a man shout anti-Jewish abuse on board a 102 bus in Golders Green.

Despite the man’s threats to “burn the bus” and “the Jews” he was allowed back on the bus after he had alighted, according to JC.

When Doherty approached the driver he reportedly told her, “There is nothing I can do” and refused to stop the bus so police could attend.

“In the event any passenger feels threatened or at risk drivers are given clear instructions to contact our Centrecomm team,” said Edwards.

“Using either the code blue or code red schemes, depending on whether the individual is still on board the bus and the incident ongoing, the driver would then be advised on the appropriate response,” he added.

“I am sorry that the driver did not follow the correct procedure in this instance.”

Hate crime in Britain has reached the second-highest recorded levels in recent memory, a recent survey revealed by the Community Security Trust (CST), which monitors and combats anti-Semitism in the UK, after Operation Protective Edge in Gaza began on July 8. 

Thousands of people have participated in anti-Israel protests, and the demonstrations have been accompanied by anti-Semitic violence. Over the past several weeks, for example, pro-Palestinian rioters vandalized a Birmingham Tesco store out of rage over a refusal to boycott Israeli products; in a similar incident, hundreds of demonstrators rioted outside the Kedem store in Manchester, in a series of clashes which culminated in dozens of death threats being hurled at the store's owners.

Recent statistics prove that hate crimes against Jews have risen 383% worldwide since 2013, including a 436% hate crime hike in Europe.