A bus passenger has claimed she intervened to help a group of asylum seekers who were struggling to board a First Bus just outside Bristol, because they said the driver would not let them pay with cash. The bus company has denied her account, however, and has clarified that it does allow cash payments at the driver's discretion.
The passenger, who we have chosen not to name, was travelling from Langford into Bristol city centre last Friday (June 2). She said her journey was delayed by a dispute at the stop near a hotel close to Bristol Airport.
The passenger, who has sent a formal complaint to First Bus, alleged that the bus driver was refusing to let on a group of people because they could not pay by card. They were among those living at the hotel while they wait for their applications for asylum and refugee status to be processed.
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Her complaint - the circumstances of which have been refuted by First Bus - is that the driver told the group of men that they couldn’t board the bus because they wanted to pay in cash, and that the bus for that route is a pre-bought advance ticket only service.
In her formal complaint, seen by Bristol Live, she said the men pointed out to the driver that they had been allowed onto the bus before and paid cash, and they had the correct change for the fares in cash, but she claims the driver was still refusing to let them on. She said it was only when she intervened and offered to pay for the fares with her card that the driver relented and accepted the cash offered by the men.
First Bus does advertise the service as a cashless one, where people have to either buy tickets on its app, get bus passes in advance or pay by tapping on with a bank card. However, First has told Bristol Live that it does allow flexibility if a passenger only has cash and has the correct change, and that has been allowed in the past on the bus service that passes the hotel.
The local resident said in her complaint: “Despite all the men having the correct change for the fare the bus driver refused to let them on saying that it is contactless payment only. They all stated that they have been let on before with the correct change.
“After quite a few minutes of the bus driver insisting that they weren’t allowed on, I went up to the driver and told him I would pay for them all as it wasn’t fair they weren’t allowed on, despite having the money to pay the fare. Because I intervened the driver then allowed them on and accepted the cash fare,” she added.
Her complaint pointed out that the people living in the hotel are given only around £8 a week to live on, and don’t have access to bank accounts or smart phones. Bristol Live has previously reported that local residents helping the men have called into question the quality of the food they are sent to reheat.
The local resident told First Bus: “I wanted to bring this to your attention as despite you claiming to be an ‘inclusive’ organisation this is completely exclusive. As you may know, asylum seekers are given a cash card for their allowance and they are only able to draw our cash to use and have no way of using contactless payments.
“As this is a known route where these men are regularly utilising the bus I would expect First Bus to show some flexibility and compassion and allow cash payments." She said she was "appalled to witness the sheer inflexibility of your driver", and she feels that denying cash payments is "rigid and discriminatory".
Full response from First Bus
In its response to Bristol Live’s inquiries, First Bus denied the incident took place in the way described by the complainant, and said she must have been mistaken. A spokesperson for First West of England said the situation described in the complaint ‘isn’t recognised among our teams, including the drivers on that route’.
“While the [service] is advertised as a cashless service, to encourage more people to use other means, the driver does have discretion and flexibility to take cash payments, and in fact we’ve seen from the stats from this morning that some trips on that route were paid for with cash,” he said.
The spokesperson said the incident may have arisen from confusion if the driver did not have enough cash to issue any change, and that the passenger who intervened and then complained ‘overheard this conversation’ and ‘interpreted it as an issue with them buying tickets’. “As far as we’re concerned the passengers travelled as normal.”
The woman who made the initial complaint to First Bus described the company's response, which said she must have been mistaken, as 'very concerning indeed'. "I was sitting just at the front of the bus and heard clearly that he was saying 'card only' rather than about the change. I really don’t think I misunderstand the situation. It’s reassuring they have discretion over whether cash can be used," she added.
The complaint comes after a series of incidents first exposed by Bristol Live last autumn, where the drivers of Stagecoach’s Falcon South West bus service were accused of barring residents of the hotel from boarding buses into Bristol, and in some cases refusing to stop if they them saw waiting at the bus stops.
In that case back in October 2022, Stagecoach initially denied any form of discrimination, but soon backtracked and apologised, saying their drivers would be spoken to. Since then, Stagecoach has worked with local residents and a charity that is helping the people living in the hotel, with free bus tickets and assistance to use their buses from that stop.
Read more:
- What happened when 100 asylum seekers arrived in a rural community near Bristol
- Bus driver 'refused to let me pay asylum seeker's fare'
- Asylum seekers in hotels near Bristol given 'appalling' food on a 'daily basis'
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