Ellen Coyne: I’ve changed seats, carriages and stops out of genuine fear of another passenger – but staff don’t have that luxury

'Everyone braced, and then it came: a stream of violent, racist language and slurs about the driver’s skin colour'

Ellen Coyne

It was the last bus out of the city centre that night, so it was a little busy. We all shuffled towards the bus as it belched out air and swung its doors open. A tall, broad young man boarded ahead of me, but his Leap card didn’t scan. The driver called him back. The man turned, and so did the atmosphere.

Eyes bulging, throat roaring, face scarlet, it only took him two strides to get to the driver’s hatch, where he started firing abuse at the Dublin Bus staff member. While other passengers were flinching and startling at each of the man’s barks and roars, the driver stayed as cool and still as a stone. A lady behind me grimly observed that he must be used to it, driving around this city at this hour.