Bus driver jailed for sexual assault

A NEWHAM bus driver on an end of route break trapped a young woman in his no. 25 bus and subjected her to a sexual assault – before starting the bus up and travelling back along the route.

On 30th April, the driver – Mohammed Tamim Uddin, 25, of Shrewsbury Road, Newham – drove his no. 25 bus from Ilford to Oxford Circus, before parking the bus in Harewood Place. This is a small street where buses park up before turning round to drive back along their route.

While the bus was parked, Uddin saw a 25 year old French woman standing near the bus. He beckoned her over and she was looking for directions to get to where she was going and he said he would help her. She got on to the bus – whereupon he closed the doors. He talked her into going up to the top deck of the bus using a pretext that he needed help fixing an alarm on the upstairs rear window.

Once they were upstairs, Uddin assaulted the woman. She screamed and tried to run away. Uddin cornered her and exposed himself and then performed a sexual act upon himself. After a few minutes Uddin opened the bus door and allowed the woman to escape – before starting up the bus and beginning his return journey.

Uddin was arrested and charged on 10th May with sexual assault on a female, false imprisonment and one count of public nuisance (indecent exposure). He appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court the following day, where he was remanded to Southwark Crown Court. When he appeared there on 18th July, he changed his plea to guilty. He was sentenced to two years in Jail and will remain subject to notification requirements under the Sexual Offences Act for ten years.

His Honour Judge Heir described Uddin’s actions as “chilling and disgusting” and constituted a “huge breach of trust,” telling Uddin “you exploited your responsible position” and that he had “tricked” the victim.

Detective Constable Teresa Moore from the Roads and Transport Policing Command said, “The victim has had a traumatic experience from her ordeal. … The sentence sends out a clear message that such conduct will not be tolerated and will be dealt with robustly.”

Siwan Hayward, TfL’s Head of Transport Policing, said, “I commend the woman for bravely coming forward to report this despicable crime to police, so it could be fully investigated and Uddin jailed for his actions. We will be undertaking a comprehensive review to determine how this happened and learn lessons so that it does not happen again.”

Charlie Beaumont from Tower Transit, the bus company that operate the bus route said: ”The driver was suspended from his job immediately when notification was received of the original complaint, and he was taken through a disciplinary process involving CCTV review which resulted in Uddin’s dismissal in advance of the court case.”

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