PTSC to investigate reports of bus beatdown

Management at the Public Transportation Corporation of TT (PTSC) are probing reports that an elderly man was beaten by another man at the request of a bus driver on Friday night.

The investigation comes after a man alleged he was attacked by another man aboard a PTSC bus when he attempted to speak to the bus driver.

The man who posted his version of the incident on Facebook claims the driver began to quarrel with some of the passengers when they rung the bell of the bus. He said he intervened in the argument and told the driver that some of the elderly passengers had problems seeing the stops at night, prompting the driver to turn on him.

"He (the driver) then said to me that he is calling someone to put me off and it would be my worst nightmare... he then told the passengers sitting close to me to move because he didn't want them to get hurt when this guy comes and that I would get a physical embarrassment.

"After about an hour, a guy stormed on the bus and the driver pointed to me and the assault began in full view of the passengers on board," the man posted.

The man in his post also said he made a formal report of the incident to the police and underwent a medical examination.

Newsday contacted PTSC Deputy General Manager of operations Bevon Cook on Sunday who confirmed while he heard of the incident he did not receive any formal report from the police and was unable to verify the reports.

He said, despite this, an internal enquiry has been launched into the incident.

"I only found out about it this (Sunday) afternoon. We intend to launch our own investigations into these kinds of situations. What I can say is that we will investigate the matter and deal with it very seriously if it is found to be true."

Newsday contacted the man who posted the incident via Facebook to speak more about the incident on the record but received no response up to Sunday afternoon.