Translink: Bus services suspended again after hijackings

Four masked men hijacked a bus in Newtownabbey on Sunday night and set it alight

Some bus services in Northern Ireland have been suspended for the second night in a row, Translink has said.

Services on five bus routes in Belfast will be suspended from 18:30 GMT on Tuesday, while diversions will be in place on a number of other routes.

Londonderry services that were suspended are now running as normal.

It follows the hijacking and setting alight of a bus in Newtownabbey on Sunday night, amid rising tensions over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

The post-Brexit arrangement is opposed by unionist political parties and loyalist groups, who believe it undermines Northern Ireland's position within the UK.

Second night of disruption

It is the second night in a row that Metro buses serving the Antrim Road, Shore Road, Shankill Road, Crumlin Road and Newtownards Road in Belfast are being disrupted.

Translink said the situation was being assessed daily, with the safety of staff and passengers remaining the top priority.

It is believed loyalist paramilitaries were involved in both recent hijackings.

The finger of suspicion is being pointed at members of the UVF acting at a local level.

The incidents are being seen as opportunistic, against soft targets, rather than any new strategy in the campaign against the protocol.

But they are grabbing headlines in a way in which, lately, protest rallies have failed to.

Tensions continue to be evident in many loyalist and unionist communities.

In that context, there remains a risk of sporadic unrest of the kind witnessed in April.

There is no evidence the UVF and the UDA at leadership level are directing or encouraging things.

The Loyalist Communities Council, which includes representatives of the paramilitary groups, has repeatedly said protest action should be peaceful.

Commuters on Tuesday should expect the same level of service on bus routes as on Monday night, Translink's chief executive Chris Conway told BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster.

On Sunday night, four masked men armed with a hammer and bottle of petrol boarded a bus in Rathcoole and ordered the driver and passengers to get off before they set it on fire.

It was the second attack of its kind in Northern Ireland within a week.

BBC News NI understands that the burning of buses in recent months has cost £800,000.

Translink said that service changes would be reviewed daily and any alterations would be listed on its website.

"The measures we took [on Monday], we will continue to reinforce those in the nights going forward to try and create that stability that we're looking for across our services and in these local communities," said Mr Conway.

He added that the driver involved in Sunday's attack was "getting good support and recovering well".

Belfast Cllr Billy Hutchinson, from the Progressive Unionist Party, said it seemed people who were unable to get to and from work were being "punished".

Mr Hutchinson, who represents constituents affected by the suspensions, told BBC NI's Evening Extra programme: "We need to get this sorted out and we have to put the safety of the drivers first, but the reality is we need to know how and why Translink makes these decisions."

The remains of a bus after it was set alight in Newtownards on 1 November

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MLA Gary Middleton said he was "concerned" at buses being withdrawn on Monday in Londonderry, "particularly in the Waterside area".

"Many people rely on the services Translink provide and they were left stranded yesterday evening," Mr Middleton told BBC Radio Foyle.

"Drivers have rights, they need to be protected and we need to stand with them, but what we don't do is allow a very small number of people to disrupt an entire service."

Mr Middleton called for an explanation as to why services were withdrawn in the city.

'Proactive measure'

Translink's chief executive said the move to suspend services was taken with "huge regret" and apologised to passengers whose travel plans were disrupted.

"We will have a meeting every lunchtime with our drivers and also in the morning time with the PSNI and other community groups and we'll make a decision everyday to try to start reinstating these services," said Mr Conway.

The move from Translink has been welcomed by representatives from Unite, a union representing some bus drivers.

"When this kind of thing happened all the time, usually you were given another bus and sent up the road again, those days are long gone and we are never going back to that situation," Unite branch secretary Hugh Ferrin told Good Morning Ulster.

Some Translink staff members staged a walk-out on Monday afternoon and gathered outside Belfast City Hall in solidarity with the drivers whose buses were targeted.