16-Year-Old Nottingham Student Suffers ‘Unprovoked Assault’ on Bus Ride Home from College

A 16-year-old girl endured a traumatic incident when she was subjected to an unprovoked assault while traveling home from college, resulting in a concussion. The harrowing attack took place as she boarded the 141 bus at Mansfield station on a Monday afternoon, October 9th, while commuting from West Nottinghamshire College in Mansfield to her home in Hucknall.

During the journey through the Rainworth and Blidworth area, a group of five individuals boarded the bus, including three teenage girls, a woman in her 30s, and a young boy of secondary school age. Signage engineer Jason Jones, the girl’s father, recounted that the teenagers began hurling objects at his daughter. When she requested them to stop, they persisted and made hurtful comments.

The situation escalated when the group started making threats towards the 16-year-old. She overheard them discussing their intentions to physically harm her and follow her off the bus for an assault. Despite her attempts to stop them once more, one of the teenagers approached her, forcibly pulling her head back over the bus seat and delivering punches to her face.

Her father described the distressing scene: “She tried to shield her face and defend against the blows. After a few moments, I believe the woman intervened, pulling the girl back to her seat.” After the assault, the girl was too frightened to disembark from the bus, waiting until someone else pressed the stop button in the Hucknall area to avoid disclosing her bus stop to the group.

Her mother, Aimi Bunce, aged 39, recalled, “She called me almost immediately. Knowing I was at work and couldn’t answer the phone, she contacted her brother, who came to get her. When I finished work about 20 minutes later and saw the missed calls and messages, I went into a panic.”

The family reported the incident to the police that same afternoon. However, due to the girl’s age of 16, they were informed that officers would visit her home to take her statement, with a parent present. Disappointingly, the family received no further communication from the police.

Concerns mounted as the girl developed a concussion and experienced feelings of sickness and dizziness, requiring her to remain at home the next day. By Wednesday, October 11, no police officer had contacted them for a statement. Jason decided to take his daughter to Hucknall Police Station, where they were advised that an officer would contact them.

Regrettably, the family was not contacted by the police until Sunday, October 15, which Aimi described as “disgraceful.” She expressed her daughter’s fear, saying that she “doesn’t feel safe and has not taken the bus since. We’ve had to arrange alternative transportation.”

The 16-year-old, choosing to remain anonymous, shared her sentiments: “I feel like I’ve lost trust and faith in people. The one time I’ve needed the police, I felt like they don’t care, and these people are just left to get away with it, so what’s the point in the police service? I just really hope this doesn’t happen to anyone else.”

Stagecoach East Midlands confirmed their awareness of the incident and their cooperation with the police’s investigation.