Bus driver suspended after 'refusing to drive bus with gay pride flag on because it promoted homosexuality'

The 501 bus adorning gay pride colours in 2018
David Baird-Parker
Katy Clifton14 August 2019

A bus driver who reportedly refused to drive a double-decker bus with gay pride colours on because it “promoted homosexuality” has been suspended from work.

Passenger Rebecca Sears, 19, said the Konectbus driver refused to drive the bus adorned with gay pride rainbow colours on its number and demanded to swap vehicles last Friday.

The driver allegedly told passengers in Norwich they would have to wait for him to swap buses, with Ms Sears quoting him as saying: “This bus promotes homosexuality and I refuse to drive it.”

She said she complained to staff at Norwich Bus Station, who she said told her “they were already aware of who she was talking about”.

“I’m aware everyone is entitled to their own views," she added. "However, if you can’t do your job properly because of your bigotry, maybe you need to rethink your choices.

“Please call out a system that allows homophobes and bigots to get away with things like this, it's 2019 people need to grow up and be more accepting."

Norwich celebrated a Pride event on July 27.

Konectbus, which is run by Go East Anglia, has now said the driver involved has been suspended and an investigation is underway.

A spokesman said: “Our management team has been made aware and it is being taken very seriously. We find this attitude, behaviour and level of customer service completely unacceptable.

"As a company, we do not condone any behaviour from our drivers that does not support this view.”

A further statement added: “Go East Anglia prides itself on values that support diversity and inclusion and has been a champion of Norwich Pride since 2017.

“We particularly want all our customers of whatever background or sexual orientation to feel comfortable on our services.

“The driver involved in this incident has been suspended and a full investigation is underway.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in