South Gloucestershire | Archive | 2006 | March | 3
From the archive, first published Friday 3rd Mar 2006.
A MOTHER has spoken out against a local bus company after her teenage daughter was left stranded for hours in Winterbourne.
Cheryl Drinkwater contacted the Gazette furious that her young daughter Dawn had been twice ignored by bus drivers on the 482 service operated by South Gloucestershire Bus and Coach Company.
Seventeen-year-old Dawn had been looking forward to a shopping trip to The Mall but found herself deserted and miles from home.
Mrs Drinkwater, a mother-of-three from Frampton Cotterell, was further incensed after her numerous attempts to contact the company proved futile.
"I tried to call them because I was so angry that the drivers had just driven off but there was nobody would answer my calls," she told the Gazette.
Dawn, 17, had been trying to get to The Mall for a shopping spree with her friend Jodie Hale and had been dropped off at the bus stop outside the Co-op in Winterbourne by her mother.
Mrs Drinkwater said: "Dawn relies on me taking her to the bus stop and on buses to get around. You try to teach your children to be independent and have their own lives so it is very frustrating when they are let down like this."
"There aren't many bus services out of Winterbourne and Frampton Cotterell so we rely on the few that do run."
The girls were waiting for the 11.10am bus that would take them directly to The Mall but although the bus turned up the driver would not let them on.
The company told the Gazette the bus had been too full.
The teenager girls were forced to wait another two hours to catch the 1.10pm bus but were shocked when the same thing happened again.
"The driver just nodded at them and didn't even stop," said Mrs Drinkwater. With no other way of getting to The Mall, Dawn was forced to phone her mother for a lift home.
Mrs Drinkwater is now so annoyed by what has happened that she is calling for the bus company improve its services around Winterbourne and Frampton Cotterell.
"If the buses are too full they should put on extra services not just leave people stranded at the bus stops," she said.
Although business development manager for South Gloucestershire Bus and Coach Company Tony Lavoie apologised for the inconvenience, he said that the drivers had done nothing wrong.
"Under strict Governmental regulations drivers are only permitted to carry a certain number of passengers and if they go over that number they will be breaking the law and lose their jobs," said Mr Lavoie. "The driver was right not to let the girls on the bus.
"With regards to the second incident of the driver failing to stop it was probably because they girls didn't indicate that they wanted to get on the bus and so the driver wouldn't have stopped."
He did, however, invite Mrs Drinkwater to call him so they could discuss the incident.
© Newsquest Media Group 2008