A Manchester student has shared a deeply upsetting video revealing the misogynist abuse she suffered during a recent journey on a university bus in the city centre.
Posted on a private Facebook group on 17 April, the student who wishes to remain anonymous for obvious reasons, shared three videos which captured an unknown individual subjecting her to horrific levels of verbal abuse while riding a Stagecoach bus near the unis.
Said to have occurred on the 42C service from Handforth Dean to Piccadilly Gardens along the Oxford Road corridor, the student boarded the bus and soon began to be abused by “a guy in his early 20s”.
Just to pre-warn you, there’s some very upsetting stuff in here:
The anonymous Manchester student was subjected to a misogynist rant for several minutes.
Despite trying to ignore him, the man continues to abuse her indirectly, launching into a disgusting, misinformed and utterly deluded diatribe against women.
ADVERTISEMENT
As the student wrote in the caption: “Just want to draw people’s attention to something that happened to me about 3pm today getting on the 42C bus by uni. As I get on the bus there was a guy in his early 20s (white, blonde shaggy hair, tracksuit) with a beer bottle in hand on a pretty unsettling misogynistic rant.
“He soon turned his attention to me as a lone female passenger on the bus – he called me a bitch multiple times, told me he’d thought about killing his family and that he might kill me one day and asked me why I was so frightened of him.”
ADVERTISEMENT
She explains how “two lovely girls asked [her] to get off the bus early with them” and as she disembarked he remarked, “yeah I’d advise you do get off the bus because I’m going to f***ing kill you if you don’t”. Truly disturbing and concerning stuff.
The Manchester student said she reported the misogynist abuse and death threats to 111 but was told it was “probably just a one-off incident” and that “he’d just had a few too many”. However, as you can hear in the audio, the man sounds fairly able to articulate, beer in hand or not.
As she went on to add, “I believe he’s probably on this bus multiple times a week harassing multiple different women and I want students to be made aware… I just want people to be especially vigilant and look after each other when using public transport.”
ADVERTISEMENT
She also encouraged others who may have experienced similar to get in touch should they need to talk about it and one person in the comments noted that “someone of a similar description outside of Cornbrook [tram stop] at around 6pm.
“Very similar slurs, primarily attacking women or those that appeared as such as they walked past. Very threatening language and spitting everywhere. Absolutely disgusting.” What’s saddening to know is that she will won’t be the only female Manchester student to have been made feel uncomfortable on public transport around the city.
We approached Greater Manchester Police for further comment but they are yet to respond; neither Transport for Greater Manchester, Stagecoach nor the universities are yet to issue a statement either.
It goes without saying that we’re so sorry she had to go through this and we’d urge any who has been through a similar experience to raise the issue with the likes of GMP and TfGM to help better police these incidents.
Trafford Centre begins months-long refurb of its iconic The Orient foodhall
Emily Sergeant
A new era for The Orient is on the horizon, as the Trafford Centre has begun its months-long refresh of its iconic foodhall.
Forming part of its ongoing commitment to ‘enhancing the visitor experience’, the Trafford Centre is investing in a major refresh of seating and customer facilities within The Orient – creating a more vibrant and welcoming environment for guests to eat, meet and relax.
Works are now underway and will be delivered in phases over the coming months.
Improvements are being carried out in phases to minimise disruption to shoppers, while creating a more comfortable and contemporary dining environment at the same time.
The refreshed area will increase seating capacity by more than 60%, introducing a range of new seating styles in the process – including banquettes, family-friendly tables, accessible seating for guests with mobility requirements, and dedicated areas equipped with phone and laptop charging facilities.
The Trafford Centre begins months-long refurb of its iconic The Orient foodhall / Credit: The Manc Group
Inspired by The Orient’s longstanding maritime heritage, the design takes cues from a contemporary cruise liner, and the space will also feature upgraded furniture and enhanced lighting, alongside flexible areas designed to encourage visitors to spend more time in there.
There’ll also be modern furnishings and a ‘refreshed’ colour palette to create a brighter and welcoming environment.
“The Orient is one of the most popular destinations within Trafford Centre, welcoming millions of visitors each year,” a Trafford Centre spokesperson said on the refurb.
“This investment reflects our commitment to continually improving the experience for our guests, creating a more modern, comfortable and social environment where visitors can meet, dine and spend time together.
“The improvements will not only significantly increase seating capacity but also deliver a much more flexible and accessible space for all visitors to enjoy.”
Featured Image – The Manc Group
News
Uber has officially started trialling driverless taxis in Manchester
Emily Sergeant
It’s official… driverless taxis have hit the streets of Manchester.
As the leading transportation company looks to bring robotaxis to other major cities around the UK, it has been confirmed that a trial of autonomous vehicles is now underway in Manchester – with the services being operated using the technology of Uber’s partner firms, Pony and Verne.
Uber said it was ‘excited’ to take this first step toward ‘making this technology accessible’ to people across the UK.
The three companies first collaborated on the deployment of a commercial robotaxi service back in March of this year, combining Pony.ai’s autonomous driving system, Uber’s global mobility platform, and Verne’s service ecosystem and operational framework.
At this time, there has been no official application to launch passenger services in Manchester, according to The Guardian.
However, posts on various social media platforms – such as X, LinkedIn, and Instagram – by each of the companies this week have confirmed that trials are underway in the city.
“New technologies play an increasingly important role in the growth of our city region,” TfGM said. “But they need to be introduced responsibly, safely and with real thought about what it means for our residents.
“Safety will always be our top priority, and we will need strong assurances that no vehicles will operate on our roads that pose any risk to residents.”
Manchester, we’re on our way! Today, we’re announcing that we’re partnering with @Verne_robotaxi and @PonyAI_tech to pilot autonomous vehicles in Manchester. Building on our service together in Zagreb, Gen-7 Robotaxis are now testing in Manchester.
We’re excited to take this first step toward making this technology accessible to people across the UK. 🇬🇧
“By bringing together Pony.ai’s proven autonomous driving technology, Verne’s operational and market expertise, and Uber’s global platform, we’re taking an important step toward making autonomous ride-hailing available to more riders in more places.”
Danny Jones -
21st April 2023 
