The boss of bus company Stagecoach said the firm has launched an 'urgent investigation' into allegations drivers on its Falcon service racially discriminated against asylum seekers being forced to live in a hotel near Bristol Airport. And Mike Watson, the managing director of Stagecoach South West, said the bus company would 'not hesitate to take any necessary disciplinary action' if people's 'right to equal access' to the bus services had not been upheld.
In a statement from Stagecoach, Mr Watson also said the bus company had started working with the liaison officer at the Holiday Inn Bristol Airport and North Somerset Council, where up to 150 mainly young men from war-torn parts of East Africa and the Middle East have been placed by the Home Office, to make sure there are no future issues with the men being able to get on the buses.
On Monday, Bristol Live revealed allegations from the leader of an arts charity brought in to work with the asylum seekers at the hotel. Angie Baul, from North Somerset arts organisation Trigger, said asylum seekers and local residents had complained that bus drivers were regularly preventing the men living at the hotel from getting on the bus, both at the nearest stop and also at Bristol bus station.
