Bus driver bashed by ice addict 'too afraid' to get back on bus

A bus driver beaten by a raging ice addict said he is too afraid to get back into the job he loved after hearing his attacker was freed from jail.

The bus driver told Nine News he is still too petrified to board a bus after he was attacked by 19-year-old Jake Hall on AFL Grand Final Day in Melbourne last year.

"It hasn't left me since that day. It's just the anger in his face," the unidentified driver said.

High on methamphetamine at the time, Hall attacked the bus driver when he was asked to put out a cigarette he was smoking on board.

Now he is gripped by renewed fear upon hearing the young father has been released from jail on appeal.

The teenager served just 99 days of a 20-month sentence, a fact that fills the driver with "anger" and "disgust".

"This guy needs help and I don't think he's going to get it on the streets," the driver said.

The attack not only drew attention to the pervasive use of ice in Victoria, it also led to the installation of protective barriers on buses to shield drivers.

But the barriers have not given any comfort to Hall's victim who said he "can't get back into a bus, back into a job I loved".

"You just don't trust anyone anymore," he said.

Author: Nicholas McCallum, Approving editor: Martin Zavan