A young woman feared she would be attacked after a bus driver refused to let her travel when her card declined - despite her proving she had money in her account. Danielle Allen was left alone in the dark when a Stagecoach driver would not let her on the bus.
The 19-year-old had tried to buy a ticket on a service from Canterbury to Margate but the transaction didn't go through. She begged the driver to let her on the bus after proving she had money in her account by showing him her online banking.
But she was left in the dark near Sturry Road post office as the driver told her she could not board the service after her contactless card and phone both declined. Terrified Danielle broke down in tears and feared someone could "attack or kidnap" her as she was alone on the dark street.
Stagecoach is now planning to do an internal investigation and said the driver should have let her travel "out of kindness" on the service eight bus around 10.50pm last Thursday, the Mirror reports.
Gym cleaner Danielle told Kent Online: "I said, ‘Please can you let me on this bus as I need to get to Margate? It’s dark, I’m alone and it’s late. I have no other way home’.
"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."
The driver informed Danielle there was a cashpoint nearby when she showed him her online banking but she would have had to wait an hour for the next bus.
A taxi home would have cost around £30 but Danielle couldn't afford the fare and did not have enough time to catch a train to Thanet. Luckily her mum's friend was able to pick her up at a nearby McDonald's where she felt safer waiting alone.
She added: "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.
"But it might not have been as serious as that - it could have been a man coming along and making me feel uncomfortable."
Despite her card declining on the bus, Danielle was able to purchase something from the fast food chain using her bank card and believes the bus payment machine was faulty. Following the incident, Danielle took to Twitter to contact Stagecoach's customer service team.
They responded: "Out of kindness the driver should have let you travel.
"I have taken all the details from this complaint and will pass it on to the depot manager so they can do an internal investigation."
A Stagecoach South East spokesperson told the Mirror: “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."
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