Laughing in my Face

I started to load some people on my bus recently and they were all OAPs travelling for free with their bus passes. The fourth in line was a black woman who asked for her destination while placing her hand by the side of the ticket machine, where the ticket would come from. She looked fairly old but didn't ask for a concession to X or show a card and ask for X. I told her the fare. She spluttered.

She pointed to her purse, which was open, inside which, amid the numerous coins and cough sweets, was a bus pass in a money bag. You could only see it was a bus pass by the location of the colours on what otherwise could have been anything credit card sized.

Silly me, I then did what I'm paid to do and asked her to show me the pass. There are quite a few that are running out of date and we're told to offer no leeway at all as what we get back per journey is so shit no operator is willing to give an inch when the error is the passenger's and the passenger's alone.

This black woman seemed surprised that I was asking to see her pass. Looking bewildered she got it out and showed me it but it was still in the money bag and I couldn't see the expiry date or, more importantly, that it was her photo on it.

"Well I've never been asked to do this before!" the woman said, laughing nervously. I suspect the volume of her voice was so that others on the bus could hear how unreasonable I'd been when actually they'd all done what I was now asking her to do except they'd done it without hesitation.

I checked the pass - in date and it was her beaming smile - issued her ticket and off she went. As she was about to go up the stairs, she said to anyone in the lower saloon who wanted to listen that "I've never come across such a bully in all the years I've been travelling on the buses!"

There's only so much I can stand, so I turned round from the cab and very publicly informed her that if she did not like showing her bus pass to obtain a FREE, yes, FREE journey on the bus, could I suggest that she get off and catch the train to her destination. The woman headed back to the front, if only to shut me up as the tables were now turning and it was she who was being embarrassed.

With her face right in mine (wrinkles and all!) she just burst out laughing. Just a very long cackle. I'd love to have thrown her off. But it would be one of those situations where the local press would be involved. I'd have to say that I removed her from the vehicle for laughing in my face, which compared to the conduct of the most troublesome of passengers, is a very minor offence.

I told her to go away and she did - upstairs, silently.

Common-sense solution: Sadly, ignorance is rife in all manner of life. This woman may not have wanted to make her age obvious to everyone else on board so assumed she'd just put her hand by the ticket machine to await her free ticket. I don't suggest all bus passes be thrust into the driver's face or slammed against the assault screen, but they need to be displayed clearly. I'd never seen this woman before so familiarity wasn't to blame. In the scheme of things, laughing in my face is not a smackable offence, regrettably. Rise above it. It's hard, but I think this dozy cow wouldn't dare do the same to me again.