The lockout of Waikato bus drivers has turned ugly with allegations a bus was driven directly at workers' picket, injuring one of them.
First Union organiser Graham McKean says he was outside the Go Bus Hamilton depot early on Friday morning with the picketers when a driver accelerated towards them.
"It was a deliberate attempt, it was clearly aimed at me, because I was the last one left," he says.
"As the driver swerved to go onto the road, the bus came straight at me, I only had time to twist my body, the bus missed me by about six inches, collected my right hand and forearm."
Mr McKean says he escaped with a bruise on his thumb and a cut on his wrist - and will lay a complaint with the police.
"There's no question that there was an attack on my life, no question," he says.
However, there have also been allegations the union has mounted blockades and picketers have deliberately walked in front of buses.
Mr McKean admits the union is attempting to disrupt the bus service but defends its right to protest and in this situation he claims he was not in the way of the bus.
Go Bus confirmed to Newshub it has received an allegation, and police have been advised. There have been no charges laid.
Unions say the driver in question has been suspended but managers will only say they have started an "employment investigation".
The pay dispute began 20 months ago, but rapidly escalated when the lockout began on Monday, the day another union organiser said a manager barged her. She's since made a complaint to the police.
Newshub.
