A MOTHER has blasted a bus company after a driver refused to accept a change voucher on his bus, meaning she was late picking up her daughter from school.

First Bus has apologised to Rebecca Conlon, 32, of Clayton Heights, Bradford, who said a bus driver wrongly declined to accept her voucher as fare.

She said she was boarding the 576 service from Halifax bus station to Bradford with her two-year-old daughter when she was refused entry to the bus.

On her previous journey, the bus driver did not have enough change for her, so gave her a change voucher to the value of £5.

This voucher can be used as a fare on another bus, or be exchanged for cash at helpdesks in bus stations.

However, when Mrs Conlon attempted to board the bus, she said she was told by the driver that she could not use it.

She had to get off the bus and wait for the next one, meaning she was late picking her other daughter up from school.

Mrs Conlon said, when she spoke to an inspector in the station, he confirmed the driver had acted wrongly. She said: “The bus driver just refused to take the voucher. I told him where I was going and how much it would cost and he said ‘we do not accept them’ and that I couldn’t use it.

“But when I spoke to the inspector, he said he should have accepted it, and offered to give me the money.

“When I told the inspector it sounded like it wasn’t the first time this has happened, and when I logged a complaint they said ‘oh not another one’, so it must be a problem with the drivers. I think the drivers need to be educated more about this.”

Colin Brushwood, operations manager at First Bradford said the company was looking into the complaint.

He said: “We’d like to reassure customers that we are investigating this incident with the driver involved and we apologise to the customer for the inconvenience that has been caused.”

Mrs Conlon said she wants more to be done to make sure this doesn’t affect more passengers.

She continued: “I was with my two-year-old daughter, she was tired and just wanted to get home, and we had to pick my other daughter up from school.

“Luckily I could go and get some cash out but for some people, they rely on that money, and if they can’t get their change refunded they will struggle.”

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