A teenager was left in fear when a bus driver refused to let her on the bus on a dark road at night.
Danielle Allen, 19, was reportedly left stranded on Thursday 24 November after pleading with the driver to allow her to get on the bus when she tried to buy a ticket and her card was declined.
Unfortunately, the payment didn’t go through and even after showing the driver her banking app to prove she had money in her account, she was refused entry.
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The driver supposedly told her to use a nearby cashpoint, which would have meant waiting for another hour for the next bus. She tried to explain that there must be an issue with the payment machine on the bus.
According to Danielle, the bus driver said he would give her ‘one more try’ but her card was declined again. She was then told she couldn’t board the bus and was left alone on a dark strip of road.
“I said 'Please can you let me on this bus... It’s dark, I’m alone and it’s late. I have no other way home,” Danielle shared with Kent Online.
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"I pleaded with the bus driver but I had to get off the bus. I panicked so I phoned my mum crying my eyes out because I had no other way home."
Danielle, who works as a cleaner, had been trying to board the number eight bus service from Canterbury to Margate after finishing work.
When the bus driver refused to let her board, she broke down in tears fearing someone could ‘attack or kidnap’ her. She didn’t have enough money to take a £30 taxi home or the time to get a train.
“I was worried that something could happen as I don’t know the place very well and it’s a long, dark strip of road. I thought someone could attack or kidnap me,” she said.
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"But it might not have been as serious as that. It could have been a man coming along and making me feel uncomfortable."
The teen walked to a nearby McDonald’s where she waited for her mum’s friend to pick her up.
Danielle contacted Stagecoach’s customer service team via Twitter regarding the incident.
Responding to her tweet, a Stagecoach representative replied: “Out of kindness the driver should have let you travel.
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"I have taken all the details from this complaint and will pass it onto the depot manager so they can do an internal investigation."
An investigation has now been launched into the incident. In a statement shared with Tyla, a Stagecoach spokesperson said: “We are extremely concerned about this incident and are very sorry for the anxiety this clearly caused for the customer.
“We have a very clear and longstanding policy that young people or other vulnerable individuals should be allowed to travel in these circumstances.
“We are investigating why this does not appear to have been followed in this case and we will take appropriate action internally to reinforce our policy with our team.”
Featured Image Credit: John Williams / simon evans / AlamyTopics: News