A BUS passenger was left in tears after she was subjected to a “disgusting” barrage of verbal abuse by a stranger.

Leanne Rowland, 34, suffered the verbal tirade after stepping on board the number 65 bus near Asda supermarket at Turner Rise Retail Park in Colchester.

She said fellow passengers looked on in shock as she was insulted by the stranger.

Leanne said: “As soon as I boarded the bus and sat down this gentleman who was sitting near me started having a go at me.

“He claimed he knew who I was, said I was a vile person and swore at me many times.

“I had never seen this person before in my life but I could smell the alcohol on his breath.

“He kept on going and going. I didn’t realise at the time but another passenger filmed a bit of it.

“It went on and on for about five minutes, but it felt like longer, until we got to North Station Road.

“The way he was abusing me I thought he was going to attack me, he was getting so loud.

“The bus driver said he could hear what was going on but wasn’t allowed to intervene.”

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When the bus stopped in North Station Road, Leanne’s abuser left the bus of his own accord.

But Leanne, who works at Colchester’s vaccine centre, said she was left in tears.

She said: “A girl came and sat on the chair next to me to keep herself between me and him.

“But nobody asked him to stop and he wasn’t kicked off.

“After he got off, the driver told us he was not allowed to intervene, say anything or kick him off.

“The man is apparently a regular on the buses and this is not the first incident. This has been reported to the police.”

Police are appealing for help to find the man, who is described as being in his late 20s, with short dark hair and stubble. He wore a dark hooded-style jacket and dark jeans.

CCTV footage of the incident, which took place at around 10.05am on Friday, is being reviewed.

Anyone with information should call 101 quoting the crime reference number 42/100151/21.

Steve Hartman, operations manager at First Colchester said: “We are undertaking an investigation in regard to an alleged incident that took place on one of our buses involving a man who was reportedly inebriated and verbally abused a travelling passenger.

“It is concerning to hear of incidents such as this occurring and we will do everything we can to provide as much evidence as possible to help the police with their inquiries.”

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