A Stagecoach bus driver was assaulted and robbed when he stopped at a bus stop in Buckie, a court has heard.
Dean Wells and Chloe Ross targeted the worker after he put on the brakes because someone was repeatedly sounding the buzzer.
Ross, 24, squirted blue liquid in her victim’s face and Wells, 32, took a £10 note from the cab drawer before grabbing the driver when he tried to stop him.
Wells appeared via video link from custody at Inverness Sheriff Court to admit charges of assault and robbery and threatening or abusive behaviour, while Ross stood in the dock to plead guilty to a single charge of assault.
The pair appeared in court on the same day that Stagecoach drivers publicly voiced safety concerns in the wake of Elgin bus driver Keith Rollinson’s death.
Fiscal depute Emily Hood told Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald it was around 4.15pm on July 14 of this year that Wells and Ross boarded the Stagecoach on Low Street in Banff.
She said: “Both accused went to sit at the rear left of the bus in the corner.”
The bus driver became immediately aware of the buzzer on the bus being “repeatedly pressed” so he leaned out of the cab window and asked the person responsible to stop pressing the buzzer.
But as the bus approached the bus stop at the Great Eastern Road in Buckie the buzzer was again activated, causing the driver to stop the bus.
Mr Hood said: “The accused Ross charged down the front of the bus and approached the cab.
“The accused Ross shouted: ‘He’s phoning the polis!'”
At this point the driver got off the bus and stood on the pavement, but was followed by Ross, who then squirted “blue liquid” into the bus driver’s face as other passengers looked on.
Driver faced threats and violence
When the driver stepped back on the bus he was met by Wells, who demanded: “Give us our f***ing money back then”.
Wells then made various threats to assault the driver and a member of the public who was trying to assist him, before reaching into the cab and removing a £10 note from the drawer.
When the bus driver tried to stop him, Wells grabbed hold of him – only stopping when Ross stepped between the two and pulled Wells away.
“Both accused then fled the locus on foot,” Ms Hood told the court.
The incident was captured on CCTV and the driver called 999 to report it. Police later traced and detained Ross and Wells.
While in the Elgin custody suite, Wells was approached for a DNA sample and became “immediately aggressive”.
‘I never robbed any bus’
He adopted a “fighting stance” and clenched his fists, and officers had to fend him off, restrain him and activate a panic alarm.
When he was later cautioned and charged with the crimes he replied: “I never robbed any bus.”
Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald deferred sentencing on the pair to allow for the preparation of criminal justice social work reports.
The court heard that at the next hearing, the Crown would be furnishing a victim impact statement from the bus driver.
Solicitors for Ross and Wells reserved their comments in mitigation for the sentencing hearing which is due to take place next month.
Ross, of Elgin, was bailed to appear on that date and Wells, whose address was given as a prisoner in Inverness, was remanded in the meantime.