Israel Matzav

Please allow extra time for your journey: The driver may need to pray

When I took my now-married daughter to London for a week for a graduation gift, she came back saying "mind the gap, mind the gap." In fact, the next time I went to London, she insisted I bring her back a t-shirt that says "mind the gap" (yes Americans, they sell them). If I took her today, we'd probably get a new t-shirt: Please allow extra time for your journey: The driver may need to pray (Hat Tip: Jihad Watch).

The driver pulled over without warning and rolled out a high-visibility jacket as a makeshift prayer mat before removing his shoes, turning to face Mecca and starting to chant in Arabic.

Passengers said they looked on in stunned silence, fearing the driver may be preparing for a terrorist attack on the bus. No one was able to get on or off the vehicle during the five-minute prayer session.

Gayle Griffiths, 33, complained to Transport for London (TfL) about the incident on the number 24 bus in Gospel Oak, north London, last week.

The mother-of-one from Camden, north west London, who had boarded the bus minutes earlier on her way home from work, said: “Everyone was looking round in a mix of shock and amazement.

“When he had finished, he just got back up and set off again – all without any explanation or apology. It was truly bizarre, ludicrous and aggravating.”

“We are delayed often enough as it is in London. We live in a multicultural society but there is a time and a place for prayer and the middle of a journey with a busload of passengers is not it.”

The NHS administrator added: “It even went through my mind that this might be some sort of terrorist attack with the bus blown up because I had heard that suicide bombers prayed before attacks.”

TfL has apologised to all the passengers for the delay to their journey and the driver has been reprimanded.

Reprimanded? What the heck does it take to get a bus driver fired in London these days - a Chinese fire drill on Oxford Street?

(I want you all to notice that I found a picture of a bus from the same route that the praying driver was on - you should all be impressed).

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:48 AM