- A BVB night network driver was attacked in November.
- He defended himself against the attacker with pepper spray.
- The driver accuses the Basel transport company of lacking care.
- The BVB emphasize that safety is the top priority, but do not equip drivers with pepper spray.
During a bathroom break at 4 a.m. in November, a Basel transport company bus driver was attacked. A young man, who is said to have noticed the bus driver negatively before, asked him a question. However, the BVB driver says he did not understand the question, as the “Basler Zeitung” reports.
“He then insulted me with, ‘You wanker, I’ll break you,’” said the bus driver. He opened the bus door to get on: “I told the guy to fuck off or I would call the police.”
Everything for self-defense
The young man came threateningly closer to the bus driver. The bus driver then used pepper spray to defend himself. But since the man protected himself with his jacket, the driver threw his cocoa at him and sprayed again. A strange man came to the bus driver’s aid.
While everyone was waiting for the police to be called, the driver explains, he and the attacker had a heated argument. But there was no further escalation.
The bus driver believes that BVB is not fulfilling its duty of care: “There should have been security on this trip, then this incident would never have happened. But I was threatened with death,” said the driver. He then went to the hospital because of an injury to his hand and filed a report with the police.
Security service when driving at night?
The safety of employees has top priority, as BVB said when asked by the “Basler Zeitung”. That’s why they deploy security services on Friday and Saturday nights to have a preventive, de-escalating effect. But since there are only five security employees on duty, no one was present when the BVB driver drove.
“Our goal is to generate as high a presence as possible by having the security staff change and change lines,” says Sarah Meyer, press spokeswoman for BVB. Cameras are installed in the vehicles, and in threatening situations the police are called in via the control center. «We train our employees in this regard. Our employees are not equipped with pepper spray,” says Meyer.
But the measures are not enough for the chauffeur. That’s why he also had pepper spray with him: “If BVB doesn’t protect me, I’ll just have to do it.” He demands that security measures be significantly expanded.
“They want to forbid me”
The driver was on sick leave for six weeks. The reason, he says, was the way BVB treated him, a long-time employee, after the attack. «Instead of covering my back, HR wanted to examine employment law measures. I have no idea why. Maybe they want to forbid me from using pepper spray to protect myself,” says the bus driver and adds: “This pressure is destroying me mentally.”
The driver is now working again with a 50 percent workload and is also driving on the night network again. However, there has been slight tension since the incident.
Activate the Basel push now!
With the Basel Push of 20 minutes, you get the news and stories that affect northwestern Switzerland delivered to your cell phone at lightning speed.
This is how it works: Install the latest version of the 20 Minutes app. Tap on “Profile” at the bottom, then on the “Settings” gear and finally on “Push notifications”. Select the topics you want here. Voila!
Finnya Kavita (kav) has been an intern in the Basel department since 2025. After school, Finnya worked in the advertising and fashion industry in social media. She looks forward to writing articles that inspire, inform and are understandable to everyone.
