A senior reserve officer and terror victim says he and his wife were left on the Beka'ot Road after a dispute with an Egged bus driver on Friday, while the company says the couple got off on their own. The confrontation took place on bus route 967 heading to Beit She'an, after the passenger asked the driver to lower the volume of music playing during the trip.
According to the officer, the driver was playing Arabic music and Palestinian stations and refused to turn it down. He said he called police, and officers arrived and spoke with the driver and the couple. He added that the driver later said he did not feel well and that another driver would replace him, but after the couple got off, the bus continued with the other passengers.
The officer said he and his wife were then left beside Beka'ot Road, near an Arab village he described as being in a hostile area. He said he called police again, and they took him and his wife to a proper bus stop in a Jewish area. He said he plans to file a civil lawsuit against Egged and the driver through the organization B'Tzalmo.
In his account, he said, "The driver and the company endangered my life. To drop me on Friday in the middle of a hostile road and on a scorching day is a danger to life." Egged rejected the allegations, saying its inquiry with the driver found that the radio was playing songs in Hebrew, Arabic and English at low volume. The company also said a ticket inspector who boarded the bus confirmed the sound was low, and that the couple chose to get off after the police check. Egged said the driver did not order them off the bus and did not remove them, adding that it respects all passengers and always aims to provide proper, respectful service.
