Updated 5.40pm - Driver suspended as MPT investigates

An irritable bus driver turned aggressive when he realised he was being photographed this morning, a passenger has claimed. 

"He immediately jumped up from his seat and tried ripping my phone from my hands," Tom, who asked for his surname to be withheld, told Times of Malta. 

Tom's headphones were ripped in half in the ensuing tussle, but not before he managed to snap a photo of the angry driver. He then took a photo of the front of the bus, before filing an official complaint with Malta Public Transport. 

The passenger said he ended up with a memento of his public transport altercation: a pair of ripped headphones.

A Malta Public Transport spokesman said: “We apologise with the passenger for the incident. Malta Public Transport condemns all forms of aggression."

The spokesman said the driver had been suspended while the company looked into the incident. 

Trouble aboard the bus had been brewing from the get-go, 30-year-old Tom said. 

"As I was boarding in St Julian's, I asked the driver, three times, if he was going to Sliema. He completely ignored me. It had to be another passenger to help me out.

READ: 'He grabbed my neck and spat in my face'

"As we drove along, I noticed that he [the driver] seemed to be getting into an argument with everyone who got on board. When we arrived at my stop, he was arguing with another passenger.

"I told him he should watch his attitude and went to take a picture of him - that's when things got out of hand. The last thing I heard was other passengers telling the driver he was crazy," Tom recounted. 

Shaken and still angry, Tom went on to file a complaint about the driver with MPT.

"They were extremely helpful and empathetic," he said. "What happened is not their fault but perhaps they need to do a better job of screening their drivers."

The company employs more than 1,000 drivers. According to its website, all new drivers "have been through rigorous training to obtain their International Certificate of Professional Competence."

'He spat in my face'

This was the second report of bus driver aggression in the past month. Three weeks ago, a woman told Times of Malta a driver followed her off a bus before grabbing her by the neck and spitting in her face. 

Transport Malta told the woman that CCTV cameras on that particular bus were out of order. MPT had suspended the driver pending the findings of an investigation into the claims.