Chinese mother of two jailed for 39 months after row over one-yuan fare sparks bus crash
A number of passengers hurt in accident as woman also ordered to pay 125,000 yuan compensation after endangering public safety in Zhejiang province
A Chinese mother of two was jailed for 39 months after assaulting a bus driver, which caused the moving vehicle to crash during a row over a shortfall in her fare of just one yuan, mainland media reported.
The woman, identified only by her surname, Wan, was also ordered to pay compensation of 125,000 yuan (HK$140,000) to the local bus company after being convicted of endangering public safety at Liandu district court in Lishui, Zhejiang province, Zhejiang Radio reported.
A number of people were injured when the night bus crashed into a tree beside the road, including a 62-year-old man who suffered multiple fractures.
Wan had taken the bus in Lishui, together with her two children, to visit her mother-in-law last September, the court was told.
Wan paid three yuan, but then began to argue with the driver over the outstanding one yuan.
She then hit the driver over the head with her rucksack, causing him to lose control of the vehicle. The bus crashed into a tree beside the road, leaving several passengers injured.
Cases of bus drivers being assaulted by passengers because of trivial matters are not uncommon on the mainland.
On Monday a bus driver was left badly beaten when a man became angry after being unable to provide enough small change to pay his two-yuan bus fare in Nantong, Jiangsu province.
No other passengers were injured in the incident, which led to police detaining a suspect on suspicion of endangering public safety.
In January, a man punched a bus driver in Nanjing after he complained that the bus had not stopped close enough to the bus stop.
The passenger was later detained by police when doctors discovered the driver had suffered a brain injury.
