A gay couple were reportedly thrown off a bus for kissing in London, after a driver told them he found it ‘disgusting’.
Transport chiefs have now launched an investigation into the August incident, where Jack James said he and his partner were ordered off a number 89 bus in south-east London by the driver, who later went on to verbally abuse them.
The 23-year old, told the Evening Standard newspaper:
“We were chatting away when my partner gave me a peck on the lips.
“The bus driver shouted: ‘Oi, you two, don’t do that on my f*cking bus or you can get off, I don’t want to watch that’.”
James and his partner assumed the driver wasn’t speaking to them, but double checked as they were preparing to step off the bus:
“When the bus stopped at our stop I walked up to the driver and politely asked the driver if he was talking to us. His reply was: ‘Yes, it’s my bus, it is my rules, and I don’t want to watch that. It’s disgusting. Get off the bus.’
“Once we got off the bus we were fuming and I was shaking. The bus stopped again and he shouted and told us we were not real men and we should f*ck off.”
Ken Davidson, Transport for London’s head of bus operations, responded to the accusations assuring Mr. James that the company were launching a full investigation:
“All customers have the right to use our services without fear of being abused and offensive behaviour is completely unacceptable.
“We would like to reassure Mr. James that this matter is being taken very seriously and that a thorough investigation is being conducted by Go-Ahead.”
The news comes following a kiss-in protest in a Sainsburys store last week, where protestors staged a #BigKissIn at the supermarket in support of a lesbian couple who were asked to leave the shop over “being affectionate.”
