Pensioner stranded 10 miles from home.

Pensioner stranded 10 miles from home after bus driver refuses to
let him on with a tin of paint

A pensioner was left 10 miles from home after being refused a bus
ride because he was carrying a can of paint, it was claimed today.
Brian
Wakley said he was stopped from taking the 1B Bournemouth to Poole
Transdev Yellow bus as the non-toxic green fence paint breached
regulations.
The retired officer worker was told to leave the bus
by the driver because the £3.75 tin was a 'banned substance', he said.



The Yellow Bus company wouldn't let a pensioner
on because he was carrying a can of paint


Rather than pay more than £20 for a taxi after the episode on
Thursday, Mr Wakley called a friend to take him home to Sandhurst, near
Wareham.
Afterwards he called the company and it confirmed its
policy.
Mr Wakley, who is over 65, said today: 'It's absolutely
diabolical. Millions of people rely on public transport to take home
things like paint and DIY equipment.
'It was a five-litre sealed
plastic pot. I know it was innocuous, because I took the liberty of
contacting the manufacturer.
'The driver said to me, 'I'm sorry
you can't come aboard because you are carrying a banned substance'.
'I
said, 'It's a can of paint'. He said it was against regulations.'
He
added: 'The other passengers were disgusted.
'Apparently the
drivers can use their discretion. No one uses their common sense any
more - it all jobsworths and rules and regulations.
'You see yobs
on buses eff-ing and blinding and yet here I am, a pensioner, carrying
some paint. It makes me feel like my human rights have been violated.'


No one from Yellow Buses could be contacted to comment today.
But
earlier the company's Head of Operations, Ed Wills, said in a statement
to the Bournemouth Echo that the company would never willingly turn
away a passenger, but had to abide by Conditions of Carriage rules.
The
statement continued: 'I recognise that the issue of carrying paint on
buses is something some people may think is a minor issue but,
unfortunately, over the years we have experienced instances of paint
being accidentally dropped by passengers and spilling over the floor,
onto seats and splashing other passengers.
'Rules can be open to
interpretation and we rely on our drivers to exercise discretion when
dealing with issues such as this.
'They do a difficult job, often
having to make snap decisions and in this case the driver clearly felt
that by allowing this gentleman on the bus with the paint it would
breach our Conditions of Carriage.'
Those rules related to 'bulky,
cumbersome, explosive, combustible, or other hazardous items,' he
explained.



Very dangerous paint.

Buses used to have an area ( under the stairs on double deckers ) where things could be stored near the door. Does not seem to be the case these days.

All he needed to do was buy a 10p carrier bag from the nearest shop, put the tin of paint into it then catch the next bus.