British police investigating claim Jewish children were prevented from boarding a bus

Police in London are investigating claims that Jewish children were prevented from boarding buses in London, according to an Independent report.

Several complaints have been made to the police due to a series of incidents in which bus drivers refused to pick up Jews waiting at bus stops, reportedly due to the encouragement of the passengers.

In Stamford Hill, a neighborhood home to a large Jewish community, several Jewish schoolboys were waiting for the bus and signaled for it to stop. The driver slowed down but did not stop.

According to the complaint, several passengers encouraged the driver, while making antisemitic remarks and expressing gratitude for it not stopping.

After the incident was initially reported to the local Shomrim, a Jewish neighborhood watch group, the complaint was passed on to London's Metropolitan Police. The complaint was made by a passenger on the bus who said they felt "threatened, intimidated, shocked, and scared" as there were no other Jewish people on the bus at the time.

Antisemitism rising in Britain

Another incident took place three days later when a 13-year-old Jewish girl reported a similar incident where the bus driver did not stop for a Jewish boy but did stop for another non-Jewish Londoner. 

Transport for London said they were taking reports "extremely seriously," adding: "We do not tolerate any form of discrimination on our network."

This comes after a spike in antisemitic incidents in London since the outbreak of war on October 7, which saw a 1,353% increase in October compared to the same month last year.

Chaim Hochhauser, chief executive of Shomrim, was quoted by the Independent as saying "Children [are] terrified to go home from school or use public transport."

“We have never had so many hate crimes in one month. Usually, on average, it's three a week. Since 7 October, Shomrim has reported 84 hate crimes. We are not talking about nationally this is happening, just around the Stamford Hill neighborhood."

Both Transport for London and the Metropolitan Police confirmed that an investigation was ongoing.