An irate bus passenger threatened the driver with a hammer after he refused to accept an expired bus pass, a court heard yesterday.Denton Parris, 42, produced the weapon and told driver Dwain Smith “don’t let me have to use this” during the incident at Hamilton bus terminal around 8pm on October 15.Parris — who has a string of previous convictions for violence — admitted using threatening behaviour towards Mr Smith when he appeared before Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo yesterday.The hearing happened on the same day that the Bermuda Industrial Union revealed a top-level meeting will be held with Government officials next week to discuss concerns over bus operators’ safety.Prosecutor Nicole Smith told the court the incident began when Parris, of Cochrane Road, Sandys, tried to present the driver with an expired three-day pass when he boarded the bus.Mr Smith, of Sleepy Hollow Drive, Hamilton Parish, pointed this out, and Parris became abusive. When the driver ordered him off the bus, Parris reached into his bag, produced a claw hammer, and waved it in close proximity to Mr Smith’s face.He also told him: “Don’t make me use this.”Members of the public intervened, and Parris went on to tell the victim: “I’m going to f**k you up you c**t”.The police were called, and arrested Parris in City Hall parking lot. The bus pass was found among his possessions and the claw hammer under a car next to where he was standing. Mr Smith identified him as the attacker during a police line-up.Defence lawyer Craig Attridge said Parris believed his bus pass was valid. He also believed that Mr Smith was refusing to let him on the bus because he used to be a police officer and knew of Parris’ criminal history.Parris has a list of previous convictions. In the year 2000, he and a female accomplice were convicted of a $7,000 cheque-forging spree. In 2004 he was found guilty of robbing a man who gave him a lift in his car of $150, and jailed for 21 months.In 2006, he was locked up for a month after getting caught carrying a machete through Hamilton while with one of his children.In 2010, he punched a woman outside a Hamilton food store after she refused to give him $2.Mr Attridge said Parris only used the hammer in the latest case after the driver gripped him to forcibly remove him from the bus.Parris denied waving the hammer in Mr Smith’s face, but admitted saying “don’t make me use this”, the lawyer said.Mr Attridge noted that the defendant has been in custody since his arrest, and the maximum sentence for threatening behaviour is six months.Mr Tokunbo agreed with Mr Attridge’s request that Parris should be sentenced to the time he’s already spent in custody.Speaking after the case, Bermuda Industrial Union president Chris Fubert said the union is “very concerned” about the safety of bus operators. A meeting has been scheduled with the Ministers of National Security and Transport on November 22.He said: “We will speak to them about how to improve the safety. At the moment, if the operator has a situation, they are supposed to contact headquarters to let them know. The challenge is how quickly they can get a response from the police, especially if they’re way up in Dockyard.”Mr Furbert declined to detail any specific proposals ahead of the meeting and could not provide statistics on the number of assaults on operators, saying that was an issue for the Public Transportation Board.A Government spokesman said: “The Department of Public Transportation is encouraged that the man was prosecuted for his actions. We look forward to working closer with the authorities to ensure that these types of attacks are prosecuted and the perpetrators pursued until they pay their debt to society.”Mr Smith could not be reached for comment.