Damages awarded against bus driver who verbally and racially abused motorist

Plaintiff's car broke down and came to a complete stop in an area where the defendant's buses stop and park - during the time that the plaintiff was waiting for a recovery vehicle to arrive, a number of buses came up behind his car - the plaintiff waved them around - one bus driver sounded his horn - the plaintiff's car could not move, and he rolled down his window and gestured at the bus driver to move around - the bus driver kept sounding his horn and the plaintiff got out to try and explain himself - the driver would not open his door, so the plaintiff got back into his car - driver then got out of the bus, went up to the window of the plaintiff's car and indicated tersely that he should move on - made reference to the plaintiff's skin colour - denied he used racial language - court believes the plaintiff that such language was used - there is a dispute as to whether the bus driver placed his hands on the car while addressing the plaintiff - bus driver used foul and aggressive language - plaintiff took photo of the rear of the bus to identify the driver and made a complaint to the Gardaí - plaintiff's girlfriend emailed the defendant stating that the plaintiff was distraught by the incident - solicitor for the plaintiff sought CCTV from the bus, but there was none available - plaintiff commenced action before the Circuit Court for assault and false imprisonment - the matter was unsuccessful and was appealed - court finds as a matter of probability that no false imprisonment took place - the approach of the bus driver to the car was aggressive and his words were aggressive - an assault consists of an act that places another person in reasonable apprehension of an immediate battery being committed upon that person - no reason why words in and of themselves cannot constitute an assault - when spoken in a context suggesting the imminent use of force, words suffice for assault - court makes order for damages against the defendant.