Help police find old man who hurled vile racist abuse at bus driver, 65, in Hackney

A police investigation has been launched after shocking video shows a passenger racially abusing a bus driver.

Grandfather-of-five Lindon Daniels, 65, was subjected to cruel verbal abuse from a passenger when preparing to start his shift.

The video, filmed when the number 26 bus stopped on Mare Street, Hackney, sees the unknown older gentleman shout to Lindon from the pavement.

He first calls Lindon, who is originally from Guyana, South America, a “c***” and a “f***ing w***er” before later shouts the N word at him.

Before the doors shut, the vile man goes on to say “go get a job in your own country”.

Lindon has worked as a transport driver in London for more than two decades.

The unknown man was filmed on October 26 by a passenger who felt sickened by his racist language.

The filmer said the incident happened after the man had already been asked to leave the bus over his language.

Arthur Blount, 27, the passenger who filmed the video, can be heard saying to the abusive man: “Nah, that’s not on mate”.

He then tells Lindon he needs to send the video to the police.

Lindon, a dad-of-seven and grandfather-of-five, said: “I got on the bus at that stop to begin my shift for the day, and as soon as the man saw me step on I heard him making comments.

“He was saying ‘foreigners this, foreigners that’ - I couldn’t stand hearing him saying things like that.

“So I told him I wasn’t prepared to continue with him on the bus after what he said – and the video shows what he was saying when he stepped off.

“The aftermath has been worse than the incident – when I was realising how severe it was.

“I told my children and they said they’d been called similar things when they were at school and it broke my heart.

“I just hope the police find the man.”

Witness Arthur added: “I took off my headphones and heard a commotion – as soon as he started using racial slurs I knew I had to go down.

“It was so shocking – it’s the kind of thing you read about in the papers but never see for yourself.

“I have never seen such overt racism before in my life.”

A spokesperson for Metropolitan Police confirmed officers are “investigating a report of racial abuse towards a bus driver on Mare Street, E8 on Tuesday, 26 October.”

Siwan Hayward, director of compliance, policing operations and security at TfL: “We are appalled to hear about this racist abuse against Mr Daniels.

“Our bus drivers do an incredibly important job and should never be subject to any abuse from passengers.

“We take a zero-tolerance approach to hate crime of any form and are supporting the police in the investigation.

“We urge anyone who experiences or witnesses hate crime to report it to the police immediately. The earlier it is reported, the stronger the evidence we have to help ensure that the small minority of perpetrators face justice.

“It’s important that incidents are reported so we can stop it happening again.”