An Irish railway worker who was physically assaulted said the public abuse of staff was getting worse.
The issue came to light on The Hard Shoulder program this week after Newstalk highlighted a huge increase in anti-social behavior on Irish trains.
The radio station reported that Irish Rail received 444 complaints of anti-social behavior last year, an increase of more than 60% on the previous year.
John, who works at Irish Rail and is currently on leave following one such incident, said he was checking tickets at Pearse Street station in Dublin when he was physically attacked.
Complaints were made to him about a disruption in an oncoming car.
When John and a colleague checked, they encountered a boy and girl on board who, after trying to remove them from the train, began physically assaulting John.
“He pulled me down on top of him and kept screaming and roaring and shouting,” John said. Eventually, he kicked my knee and I just collapsed,” reports The Mirror.
Some colleagues had been threatened with even more serious violence and dangerous accidents.
“I’ve had colleagues who have had cars driven at them when they were trying to talk to people at a station,” he stated, reports The Mirror.
Subsequently Jim O’Callaghan TD, spokesman for the Fianna Fáil judiciary, said that there should be a special public transport unit within the Gardaí to manage transport.
“Guards have powers like the power of arrest or the power to tell people to move on. All the guys that work security can do is just report it to the gardaí,” he said, reports The Mirror.
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