A man was stopped from boarding a Luas by security after he allegedly racially abused passengers at a stop.
The incidents occurred on Monday evening at the Sandyford stop in south Dublin - one of the busiest along the Luas' Green Line. The man was chucked off the tram by security at the stop after behaving in a "disruptive manner".
Around an hour later, the man came back to the stop and allegedly shouted racial slurs at a number of people standing at the stop. One witness took to Reddit to share his experience, saying that he was afraid that "this idiot can just hit me".
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He wrote: "I was waiting for my Luas this evening at Sandyford and was on a call. Some white dude, who was visibly drunk among other things, starts shouting from a distance. I ignored. He came closer, I went farther away.
"He started yelling 'Shut the f**k up, stop talking' and I did. He came closer and yelled even louder, 'Where are you from, you don't seem from around here, I don't trust this system, there's so many of you here now' among other things.
"I stood as far as i could away but could still hear him chatter. I didn't say a word and kept ignoring it. It's just been a couple of weeks since I reached Dublin.
The man went on to say a teenage boy, who was also at the stop, was started on by the same man. He continued: "There was another young guy, around 16, who was the same colour as me, and he faced heat from this clown.
"He confronted him and of course the drunkard came closer to him. The other guy then crossed the platform and stood there waiting for his Luas.
"Those were the longest 10 minutes of my life. I was scared that this idiot can just hit me and if I hit back, I am visiting jail."
When the tram arrived, security were already aware that the aggressive man has returned to the stop, so they decided to only open the doors at the driver's cab. Security personnel then managed the flow of people as they got and off the Luas through the single door.
When the aggressive man attempted to board the tram, security were there to stop him and take him back outside. The alleged victim added: "They stopped this racist p***k from boarding. I breathed a sigh of relief and thanked my stars."
A Transdev spokeswoman told Dublin Live: “We have established that a man was behaving in a disruptive manner on a tram at Sandyford Luas Stop on the evening of Monday 29 August. The man was removed from the tram and left the area.
"Approximately one hour later, he returned to the Luas stop, and the decision was made not to allow him get on a tram which later arrived at the stop. This involved only allowing passengers to get on or off the tram through the single door near the driver’s cab.
"The man subsequently left the infrastructure. No complaint was received in relation to this alleged incident.
"We advise anyone who is targeted by criminal activity – including racist abuse – to report it to the gardai. We will always assist the gardai with their investigations into any such incident, including the provision of CCTV if or when requested.”
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