Drunken bus driver guilty of assault

A drunken bus driver attacked his boss and then hurled a torrent of racial and sexual abuse at police in front of hospital staff and patients, a court heard.

Waheed Chohan (38), of Florida Street, Oldham, was instructed to go back to his depot on August 4, after complaints from several passengers that he was being abusive and appeared to be drunk.

On the way back, he smashed into a lamppost, severely damaging the vehicle, and when he arrived at the depot he became aggressive and punched his supervisor in the face, Bury magistrates were told.

The victim hit Chohan back and when police arrived at about 9.40pm, they found the defendant on the floor.

He smelled of alcohol, his speech was slurred, he struggled to get to his feet, refused to give his details and started to make threats. He was handcuffed and taken to hospital, where he racially insulted officers and refused to take a blood test.

The father-of-four, now training to be a plumber, was given a six-month community order with supervision, banned from driving for three years and ordered to pay a total of £585 in fines, costs and victim surcharge.

Careless
He admitted failing to stop after an accident, failing to provide a specimen for analysis, careless driving, common assault and racially-aggravated harassment.

Brian Koffman, defending, said Chohan was not drunk while driving the bus and insisted the passengers had abused him and that he had not been abusive to them.

Chohan was told to return to the depot after reports of an incident on the vehicle. He dropped off his passengers, but then hit a lamppost.”
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