A 66-year-old man drunkenly grappled in the aisle with a fellow Fife bus passenger after flying into a rage with the driver because he was travelling in darkness.
Thomas Straiton wound up in court for the first time in his life after thumping the driver’s cabin.
Straiton said “why don’t you go back to your own f****** country where you belong” when another passenger tried to intervene after the bus had stopped in Fife.
The pair then grappled in the bus aisle as the dispute turned violent.
He told a sheriff he “lost it” after becoming annoyed at the bus being driven without an interior light.
Passenger angry over dark bus
Straiton, of High Street, Auchtermuchty, had been drinking before boarding the bus in Glenrothes at around 8.20pm on November 3.
As it approached Gateside, he stood up from his seat to speak to the driver about the lack of lighting but quickly became abusive.
Fiscal depute Carrie-Anne Mackenzie told Dundee Sheriff Court: “The accused appeared to be heavily intoxicated.
“He was becoming increasingly irate.
“He began to shout and swear at the driver in an aggressive manner and struck the side of the driver’s cab with his hand in a violent gesture.”
Straiton’s unruly behaviour was filmed by a fellow passenger on their phone.
He was approached by the man he would later assault when the bus had stopped in Gateside.
He called the man a “junkie” before uttering the racially offensive remark.
Grappling in the aisle
Mrs Mackenzie added: “The argument has escalated and the accused punched the complainer to the head, striking him to the left side of his temple.
“They then began to grapple within the aisle of the bus.
“The complainer was struck several times to the head.”
Police were contacted some time later and Straiton was found in the passenger seat of a car after being picked up.
He had a small amount of blood coming from his hand.
Fife bus passenger apologises for driver abuse
Straiton, a first offender, pled guilty to acting aggressively, shouting, swearing, making offensive remarks and repeatedly striking the bus driver’s cabin partition on November 3 last year at the A91, Gateside.
He also repeatedly punched the other man on the head and body to his injury.
The man did not require medical treatment.
Straiton appeared without legal representation and freely admitted to Sheriff Andrew Berry that he had “drank quite a lot of alcohol”.
After being asked what triggered the incident, Straiton said: “The lights went out on the bus and the person who I assaulted was standing talking to the driver and I started shouting at the driver because the whole bus was in blackness.
“Then I just lost it.
“It was out of character for me. I would like to apologise to everybody involved.”
Straiton, who removes furniture for a living, was fined £200.
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