Mum's fury over pass

Paul Britton

August 21, 2007

| Submit Comments | Comments (10) | Previous | Next

ADAM NUTSEY

AN ANGRY mum tracked down a bus driver who had confiscated her teenage son's travel pass and ordered him to hand it back.

Tracey Nutsey was furious when her 15-year-old son Adam was left stranded in Manchester after the driver claimed his under-16 pass was a fake.

The driver told Adam, of Tyldesley, Wigan, that the photograph did not look like him, as his blond hair had been dyed black, and ordered him to hand over the pass.

Adam then had to get off the number 12 service from Manchester Piccadilly to Tyldesley because he didn't have enough money for the full fare.When he phoned to tell his mother what had happened, she was so angry she drove along the bus route, tracked down the driver and demanded that he hand the pass back.

She said: "Reluctantly, he gave it back." Tracey said that the bus driver kept saying the pass was a fake.

Fake

But she said: "It is a valid pass and not a fake. All he has done is have his hair dyed. His passport has never changed and we have just been abroad twice."

Adam, a pupil at Bedford High School, Leigh, said he had travelled into Manchester using the reduced-fare bus pass.

On the return journey, he said, the driver asked for his pass. He said: "I gave it to him, but he kept saying it was a fraud. He would not give it me back. I do have darker hair and it is a bit longer, but underneath it is me."

Tracey said there had never been an issue before. The pass is due to run out on February 27 next year, the day before Adam's 16th birthday.

She said: "Bus drivers should not be able to do this. Nobody has ever said that he needed a new pass.

"The fact that he took the pass off him and made him get off the bus is not on. I might not have had access to a car to pick him up. It could happen to a teenage girl on her own."

Bus company First has now apologised to Tracey and said a full investigation into the incident had been launched.

Bob Mason, of First, said: "Firstly, I would like to apologise to Mrs Nutsey and her family for any distress and anxiety they experienced with travel on our service. We will also be arranging for one of our local management team to speak with Mrs Nutsey."

He added: "I would like to ask any customer presenting a personal photo identity-based card or travel pass that they take care to ensure that the image on the pass is accurate.

"Drivers do have the responsibility to ensure that any travel concession requested is fully valid."

| Submit Comments | Comments (10) | Previous | Next

Showing comments 1 to 10 and replies | View All

Chris, Irlam (21/08/2007 at 08:17)

Aye - it's gonna be great when we're all priced off the roads and herded like cattle onto the bus isn't it?

Ms D, Manchester (21/08/2007 at 09:02)

Teenagers change their look all the time but you can tell from the facial features that it's the same person. Good for Adam's mum for tearing a strip off that dopey, jobsworth bus driver. It's not right to leave anyone stranded, especially when they have a valid pass.

PW, Manchester (21/08/2007 at 09:08)

Yes Chris, and the increase in passengers is going to cheer up our happy bus drivers no end. I know they're not all miserable or discourteous, but it's quite common. I've just been down to Devon, and it was actually a pleasure to get on a bus there.

I refer to those drivers who deliberately speed up or throw the bus around corners, and then glance in the mirror to see which passenger they've knocked off their feet. My elderly Mum was actually hospitalised a few years back through irresponsible driving as she was thrown around the bus. She rightly sued the bus company, but we could all do without that kind of thing in the first place.

Mind you, the errant drivers might behave themselves if they were carrying City Councillors or GMPTE bosses. But there's more chance of them carrying Her Majesty!

Mike Pevitt (21/08/2007 at 09:26)

Lucky he was ordered off the bus, last Friday I was on the No 12 and typically they are the oldest buses First operate. We started to move off at the lights at the Crescent when the engine or gear box dropped off and tore a large piece of the crossing and tarmac up before coming to a stop at Salford Royal. I hope First are charged for the road repair and also having unsafe buses on the road. I avoided the No 12 today and managed to get a trainee F1 driver who hit nearly every kerb corner on the route into manchester.

ace, manchester (21/08/2007 at 12:01)

Mike Pevitt
You mean those buses that are pollutant free that save theplanet? heheeeh what a joke i still see buses that spew out pollutants i thought that after shutting that last bus company up the others would have sorted themselves out. our transport services in britain are terrible .

Calamity (21/08/2007 at 13:18)

I say well done to his Mum. From my awful days of using public transport, I well remember such an attitude in a lot of bus drivers.

From Oldham (21/08/2007 at 13:55)

To be honest, if you look at the photo in the paper you can see why the driver didn't believe him, but the situation could have been handled better.

Holsten500 (21/08/2007 at 16:29)

Ace, How often do you travel by bus?

A. Coates, manchester (21/08/2007 at 17:33)

i'm actually surprised that someone actually HAS an under 16 ID pass. No one ever shows one when they ask for the concessionary fare these days. and when they are asked, they give the bus driver a mouthful of abuse.

back to the story in hand, yet again, it's a First driver that brings the company into disrepute. and they want US to pay for their new buses? not a chance

manufan, manchester (21/08/2007 at 20:52)

he looks nothing like his pass photo!

()

Report

News