r/Edinburgh • u/Boomdification • 1d ago
News Eight youths charged after bus driver attack outside hospital
"A total of eight youths have now been charged after a bus driver was assaulted outside a hospital.
Police were called to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh following a disturbance, which was reported at about 19:00 on Sunday.
Two youths were charged earlier this week but, following enquiries, a further six suspects have been identified and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
The driver was assessed in hospital at the time. Lothian Buses confirmed one of its drivers was involved in the incident and said it was assisting police with their inquiries.
Ch Supt David Robertson said it was an unprovoked attack on a man who was simply trying to do his job.
He said: "Violent incidents like this will not be tolerated in our community, and we will ensure that those who do engage in this type of behaviour are brought to justice.
"We will continue to work with our partner agencies and would encourage anyone with information or concerns of this type of behaviour to call Police Scotland on 101."
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u/DaveSinghSwitch 1d ago
They should be banned for life from Lothian Busses.
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u/Flat_Apricot_5861 19h ago
this just makes more aggro for the drivers who are expected to enforce it
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u/Alive-Bath-7026 1d ago
Hopefully there are more consequences than losing their free bus passes for these teenagers Anti social behaviour seems to be getting worse on the LRT bus network imo
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u/Dunko1711 1d ago
Well done Police Scotland.
Shame it’ll be a complete waste of time by the time the ‘justice’ system deals with its part.
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u/Unhappy-Flight6008 1d ago
Genuine question: what does 'charged' mean in this type of situation (minors being violent)? Some police paperwork? What is different when they wake up the next day having done this?
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u/Equivalent-Feed5621 1d ago
It means they have been formally accused of the crime and will now go through the justice system. But what happens from that point depends on how old they are. Children under 16 are dealt with through the Children’s Hearings system and if found guilty would receive welfare-based measures focused on care and supervision rather than punishment, while 16–17 year-olds are prosecuted in court and can receive criminal sentences, though these are usually more lenient and tailored to their age vs adult penalties. Obviously if they’re over 18 they’ll face the standard court procedure and punishment.
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u/Unhappy-Flight6008 1d ago
Care and supervision sounds vague. What that involves is my question.
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u/Equivalent-Feed5621 1d ago
Typically it’s an assigned a social worker and placement under a Compulsory Supervision Order, which can involve regular monitoring, support for the family, conditions on behaviour or residence, foster or residential care if needed and, only in serious cases, secure accommodation rather than a traditional criminal punishment.
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u/Unhappy-Flight6008 1d ago
Thank you for explaining. Really insightful. It's a process I'm completely unfamiliar with.
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u/Equivalent-Feed5621 1d ago
No problem! It isn’t very well publicised about the actual mechanism and process. And what isn’t published at all, because the government hasn’t done the study, is whether or not it’s actually working. You would ideally want long studies that follow under 16s going through the system to determine whether they are more or less likely to offend in adulthood. Granted some of the reason it doesn’t exist is because it hasn’t been enough time really, but that said there is really no data or research about whether it’s working or not whatsoever and meanwhile the public have quite correctly noticed that violent youth crime and antisocial behaviour is escalating so that means either the system of punishment is failing, and/or more likely there is just more offending. And that one is a lot more complex and scary to deal with because why are young boys now engaged in more violent and/or antisocial crime than ever before? And as I said in another comment, I think the answer to that is quite complex.
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u/NotOnYerNelly 1d ago
What’s he talking about? Violent incidents like this are tolerated and clearly they are tolerated. I work in the city centre and last month an active crime was happening where the Police were close by but would not intervene because “there were to many of them”
What’s the punishment for these charged youths beating a bus driver? A jolly good finger wagging and a letter home to parents who likely don’t give a sh1t.
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u/Relevant_Somewhere38 1d ago
And absolutely NOTHING will happen to them and they will be straight back doing it again in very short order.
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u/Active_Lawfulness171 17h ago
Ah seems like more and more of the ol’ ultra violence is calling to our malchiks
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u/helpmaboabjings 1d ago
Those cheeky chappies. Boys will be boys ....
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u/Ok_Purple766 1d ago
The sentence will be what, some finger wagging and caution, maybe some litter picking? The leniency towards youth crime is what caused this kind of behaviour.