After being honked at, Merc driver confronts bus captain, snatches his phone and throws it on road

Update on Nov 7:

Mercedes driver charged for public nuisance after throwing away bus captain's phone in confrontation

Original article:

Hell hath no fury like a Mercedes-Benz driver honked.

A motorist was so furious that an SBS Transit bus captain sounded the horn at him that he got out of his Mercedes to shout at the bus captain and bang against the side of the bus.

The driver later managed to get onto the bus to confront the bus captain, snatched away his phone and threw it on the road after arguing with him.

SBS Transit said it has made a police report against the Mercedes driver.

Stomper Peter shared a YouTube video of the incident, which happened at Flora Road near Loyang Avenue at close to midnight on Oct 31.

In response to a Stomp query, Mrs Grace Wu, Vice President (Special Grade), Customer Experience and Communications, SBS Transit, said that the service 4 bus had stopped at a bus stop at the time.

"When passenger boarding and alighting were completed, it tried to exit the bus bay but couldn’t as a private car was obstructing its path," recounted Mrs Wu.

"The bus captain alerted the car driver by sounding its horn but the car did not move off. Instead, the car driver came out of his vehicle, shouted at the bus captain and banged against the side of the bus. He returned to his vehicle only as it was holding up other vehicles along the single carriage lane.

"The car driver then drove off and stopped a short distance away but not before verbally abusing our bus captain.

"Returning to the bus, he activated the emergency door button on the bus exterior and boarded it. He shouted at the bus captain again and forcefully grabbed hold of the mobile phone that the bus captain was using.

"A lady, who could have been a passenger in the car and seemed to know the man, boarded the bus and managed to coax him to alight.

"While walking back to his car, the driver hurled the bus captain's mobile phone onto the road.

"The lady subsequently picked it up and returned it to the bus captain.

"Throughout the incident, the bus captain was in communication with our Operations Control Centre (OCC) for guidance and support. Our OCC had also contacted the police for assistance."

Mrs Wu added: "We take this incident very seriously as our bus captain was just doing his job in providing an essential service.

"We do not tolerate acts of harassment, intimidation and verbal abuse against our bus captain and have since filed a police report against the car driver.

"As a matter of policy, we will not tolerate any abuse against our staff and will fully back any staff who wishes to defend their rights beyond the criminal justice system and file for civil action. This means helping victimised staff navigate the legal system, including appointing representation as well as undertaking the costs."