Leeds bus driver arrested over ‘Muslim terrorist’ jibe claim

Police have arrested a bus driver who allegedly called a woman passenger a Muslim terrorist and asked her if she had put a bomb on his bus. An investigation was launched by First Buses in Leeds after Turkish-born Hatice McGraffin, 29, claimed a driver made the inflammatory remarks as she boarded her bus on Thursday morning.

Cafe worker Mrs McGraffin claimed he said: “‘You are an Islamic terrorist – you have put a bomb on the bus’. I asked people on the bus ‘are you listening to this’ but they ignored me. I am not even a practicing Muslim and I am married to an Englishman. I got off the bus and went to work but I couldn’t work. I was crying so much and my hands were shaking, I had to go home. This is the first time this has happened to me in my life. There are lots of Muslim people living in this country, does he think they are all terrorists?”

Yorkshire Evening Post, 23 January 2010