A GERMAN academic was told by a bus driver that delays to a journey “served him right” after Germany put England out of the World Cup.

Dr Rainer Schulze, head of history at Essex University, was abused after he asked about a hold-up on the 62A heading from the Wivenhoe Park campus to Colchester North Station on Tuesday night.

Dr Schulze said: “When we reached the bus depot, the bus with all the passengers on board who had intended to go further, was simply dumped.

“The driver walked off into the sunshine without any announcement as to when the journey would continue, if ever.”

After ten minutes, Dr Schulze got off the bus to try to find out from staff at the Queen Street depot, in Colchester, what was happening.

“I was told by one of them that he couldn’t care less and that it did not concern him in the slightest as he was on his break,” he said.

“I was told to ask in the office, but at 8pm there was no one there and I went back to speak to the same man.

“The responses I got became shorter and ruder, and he repeated again and again that I should go away and stop bothering him.

“He finally snapped at me that this served me right as Germany had beaten England in the World Cup – a remark that I found appalling and bordering on the racist.

“It added insult to the injury of the delayed journey.”

Dr Schulze, an expert on the Holocaust, decided to give up on the bus and walk to the station to catch a train back to his London home.

He added: “I walked along the same route the bus takes and was not overtaken by a single 62A.

“God only knows if the bus I was originally on ever left the depot again.

“There have been problems before with the bus stopping at the depot to change drivers.

“Tickets are not cheap and passengers should be entitled to a reliable service and explanations when there are problems.

“No one seemed to be in charge or wanted to take responsibility.”

First spokesman Jagdish Kaur said: “We value our passengers and aim to provide an excellent customer service.

“We operate a zero-tolerance approach to incidents like this and a full investigation will be launched.”