BUS ÉIREANN DRIVERS say they will stop serving Busáras after dark from next week unless the company provides more security at the Dublin station.

The warning comes after a bus driver was allegedly the victim of a serious assault at the station in recent weeks.

Members of the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) have now said they will stop picking up and dropping passengers off at Busáras after 8pm from Monday 16 September unless Bus Éireann takes action.

NBRU General secretary Dermot O’Leary told Newstalk Breakfast that attacks on drivers are rising on a weekly basis and that Busáras was a “particular hotspot” for anti-social behaviour.

He claimed that policing a central station like Busáras should be easy, but suggested that the company was providing inadequate security to drivers working there.

“[The action is] to highlight the fact that Bus Éireann have a duty of care to its own staff,” O’Leary said.

“Busáras at this point in time, as we understand it from our members, you might get one security [guard], two sometimes, around what’s a big depot, a big station if you like.

“We’ve been calling for some time for a garda public transport division to try and help police public transport. And while different types of resources would be needed for buses, as opposed to trains, that campaign goes on.”

O’Leary added that the union’s members would take action from next week if more security wasn’t provided, and could do so sooner if there was another incident involving a driver before then.

Last month, NBRU members voted to curtail bus and rail services in areas considered “black spots” for anti-social behaviour.

An emergency motion passed at the union’s biennial conference means that services will now be withdrawn from problem areas from 14 October in the run up to Halloween.