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‘Disrepectful’ bus driver calls police on elderly pair

Under investigation: the Department of Public Transportation has launched an investigation into the allged behaviour of a driver toward a child and to two witnesses who tried to intervene

A “disrespectful and rude” bus driver called police on two elderly passengers and pulled the vehicle over when they tried to intervene after she refused to allow a child to board her vehicle, it was revealed yesterday.Now the two passengers, who asked not to be named, have complained to the Department of Public Transportation about their treatment.The DPT confirmed last night that a complaint had been lodged and was being investigated.One of the women, aged 65, said she and her sister-in-law had caught the 1.45pm bus number 11 from St George’s to Hamilton after they attended church last Sunday.The woman added: “A little boy, maybe 12 or 13, got on the bus and she asked for his bus pass. He didn’t have it, and she shouted at him.“My sister-in-law offered him a ticket, and she told her ‘I’m not talking to you’.“Then she called into the terminal and said she wasn’t driving until we got off the bus. We would not get off — we’re senior citizens and my sister-in-law uses a cane.”She said the driver called the police and parked the bus in Hamilton Parish for close to an hour before the police came and took their statements.The woman added: “The way she carried on was disrespectful and rude. She said she would go home sick and still get paid and she wouldn’t move until these ladies got off. It was embarrassing.“It makes me feel like not taking her bus any more.”The woman’s sister-in-law, aged 60, said many of her family members had been bus drivers.She added: “You shouldn’t talk to anybody’s child like that — there were people on the bus trying to make time and she did not care.”She said the driver “shouted” at the boy as he tried to get on the bus and refused to let her give him a bus ticket.The 60-year-old added: “I had paid my way. She should not be doing that job.”A DPT spokesman said complaints to the department were investigated “immediately”, and that the complainants would be contacted informed of any decisions.