Police inquiries were underway Tuesday after two separate incidents involving public service vehicle (PSV) operators and passengers, one of which reportedly involved an attempt to use a weapon, officials confirmed.
Chief Operations Officer at the state-owned Transport Board, Yvette Holder, said one of the incidents involved a PSV operating under its Transport Augmentation Programme (TAP). Under the TAP programme, the board contracts private PSVs to supplement its services.
Holder told Barbados TODAY: “The matter was brought to the attention of management and the matter was addressed with action being taken. The matter was reported to The Barbados Police Service (TBPS) by the owner and is being investigated. The management held a follow-up meeting as recently as yesterday with the owner. The Transport Board takes the safety of its staff, contractors and service providers very seriously.”
Outgoing Chairman of the Alliance Owners of Public Transport (AOPT), Roy Raphael, explained what took place on both occasions.
“Nobody didn’t get stab,” he said, denying rumours of a stabbing. “There were two incidents. There was the passenger and the conductor, where one of the passengers attempted to use a weapon on one of the conductors on one of the public service vehicles. This vehicle was travelling from the Cheapside Terminal to District D [in St Thomas].
“The second incident happened, where a person approached one of our TAP operators and made threatening remarks, using violent remarks towards that person, and the matter is also being investigated by the police, and we expect those persons to be charged and taken before the court very soon.”
“So, we are sending a clear warning to passengers out there… do not offend members of our community… as we expect some kind of order from members of our community towards the passengers as well, because it goes both ways.”
The PSV leader disclosed that security measures will also be introduced to protect minibus and ZR workers.
Raphael said: “Shortly, in all, or most of our vehicles, we are going to outline the offences against PSV workers, in the vehicles, so that people understand that if they assaulted any of our workers, they will be charged.”
“We are going to be encouraging all of our members to put cameras in their vehicles. Obviously, we need footage. And also, we are going to be using the footage and so on, so that the police can have evidence of these people. So, there is a clear warning out there to them,” he added.
Raphael stressed that anyone harming a PSV operator will face the full force of the law.
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