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Jail for menace who attacked bus driver: She punched him as he was trying to steer
A DRUNKEN woman who attacked a bus driver at the wheel of a moving coach has been jailed for 12 weeks.
Passenger Jill Tibbetts, 48, pleaded guilty to assault at a previous hearing.
Andy Wills, prosecuting at Calderdale Magistrates Court, said Tibbets grabbed Peter Wortley by the hair, slammed his face against a window and punched him as he drove the National Express coach from Barnsley towards Halifax bus station.
A passenger had alerted Mr Wortley to Tibbett. He kept an eye on her but became worried when she spilled alcohol. He tried to calm the situation down but she called him an "idiot."
At Huddersfield bus station Mr Wortley told his station manager who advised him to call police, but Tibbetts seemed to calm down.
However, she carried on drinking so Mr Wortley phoned police. When she heard him she became aggressive and screamed at him to be let off the coach.
When he refused she grabbed him by the hair and rammed his head into a window while the coach was moving into Halifax bus station.
She also punched him and tried to press buttons on the dashboard so she could get off.
Mr Wortley managed to push her off and stop the coach.
He tried to restrain her on the floor but let her go when she struggled.
She ran away but left her handbag on board.
Mr Wortley suffered a bruised scalp and face plus headaches.
He was off work for seven weeks, suffering from stress and anxiety.
He lost 1,162.11 in wages.
Richard Brown, for Tibbetts, of Kershaw Crescent, Luddenden Foot, said she had sought help for her drinking problem from her doctor and Calderdale Substance Misuse Service.
"She is a Jekyll and Hyde character. When not drinking she is the most polite and pleasant person you could meet but when she drinks she acts in a wholly illogical way. She is sorry."
Sentencing her, chairwoman of the bench Annabel Davis said: "The victim was providing a service to the public. There could have been serious danger to Mr Wortley, the passengers and to other members of the public. The aggravating factor was that it was a moving vehicle.
"And Miss Tibbetts was drunk."
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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