A former bus driver in Perth's southern suburbs has been awarded $45,000 in compensation after being attacked by passengers and spat on in two separate incidents in 2008 and 2010.
William McCreery was a bus driver for former Public Transport Authority contractor Southern Coast Transit, which serviced passengers between Rockingham and Mandurah, at the time of the assaults.
In the first assault he was attacked by two drunk passengers who threatened to stab him and then struck him across the head with a plastic bin and a coke bottle while punching him.
Medical reports said the incident temporarily left Mr McCreery with a stiff neck and numbness to the right side of his face.
Two years later he suffered psychological stress when a woman he refused entry onto the bus became abusive and spat in his face.
He claimed the incident left him traumatised and led to feelings of anxiety and depression which eventually saw him to leave his job and return home to Northern Ireland in 2012.
A compensation assessor originally granted Mr McCreery $12,000 compensation for the two incidents in 2012.
However, District Court Judge Richard Keen revised that figure to $45,757.80 on January 29, the majority of which was compensation for trauma suffered from the spitting incident.
"It is clear that Mr McCreery did suffer a significant psychiatric or psychological sequelae to the incident when he was spat upon and it has had ongoing effects upon him," he said.
"This must be seen against the background of him having established a happy contented life in Australia but also against the background of making the decision, which he accepts to be wrong, of returning to Northern Ireland.
"Taking all factors into account I am of the view that an appropriate award in respect of his injury would be $35,000."
Public Transport Authority spokesman David Hynes said attacks on its bus drivers were rare but that security measures were in place to try and prevent incidents from occurring.
In 2009, the authority came under scrutiny for failing to protect bus drivers after a 59-year-old driver was punched and pelted with a chunk of concrete by a passenger in Armadale.
"Transperth has invested heavily in a number of initiatives to protect passengers and drivers from the small element of society who appear to think it is okay to be violent on our bus services," Mr Hynes said.
"Assaults on bus drivers are rare and have been even more so since the introduction of security cages about a decade ago.
"All our buses are fitted discreet with duress alarms, and every bus on the road after 6pm has a driver security cab.
"In addition, the vast majority our buses are fitted with multiple CCTV cameras and all have two-way radios and GPS locators facilities."
