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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Or Bus Driver

213 replies

Sarahh2014 · 21/03/2018 09:28

Just got on a bus in my village with a £10 note the fare i was getting was £4 not ideal but it was genuinely all i had on me ( no time to change it in a shop) bus driver stated had no change and could issue a credit note for the money owed to me.I said I'm sorry but I need the changeplus I have no need to travel on any more buses to use up the credit pls could you let me on? he refused resulting me in being late for an appointment

OP posts:
CompleteAisling · 21/03/2018 11:12

BUT if they don't do that they need to make sure they have enough float

This doesn't make sense. They should have enough float for every possible transaction? So if every passenger gets on with a fifty pound note?

do you want to see a huge rise in the number of bus drivers attacked and robbed?

HunterHearstHelmsley · 21/03/2018 11:12

I'm in the Midlands too and on our buses you have to put your money into a sort of box. The drivers don't have access to this so can never give change.

OP YABU. If you desperately needed to get the bus then you should have accepted the credit note. Next time, sort yourself out the day before.

HunterHearstHelmsley · 21/03/2018 11:12

I'm in the Midlands too and on our buses you have to put your money into a sort of box. The drivers don't have access to this so can never give change.

OP YABU. If you desperately needed to get the bus then you should have accepted the credit note. Next time, sort yourself out the day before.

trixymalixy · 21/03/2018 11:36

Buses in Glasgow haven't given any kind of change for as long as I can remember. They have no access to the money. If you don't have the correct money you either overpay or you don't get on.

surgeryadvicepls · 21/03/2018 11:39

I don’t get buses personally, but of course they would need a float. A float amount on the bus doesn’t have to be hundreds at all. It’s just a few 10ps, 50ps, £1s etc that he can give as change if necessary. How many annoyed passengers will he face if he’s just given £6 in change to OP? The amount of change given would be more than her fare lol how ridiculous. Also I’m sure that bus drivers are aware of being scammed/tricked when passengers constantly get on with a note and no change in the hopes that the driver will let them on for free. Not saying that’s what OP was doing, but I’m sure drivers have experienced this.

Idontdowindows · 21/03/2018 11:41

Drivers don't have any say in it. Companies don't want drivers out with money. If everyone came on with a tenner, after 6 passengers they'd be worth robbing.

Safer for the drivers and to be honest, this has been this way for years now, I was only able to get change on very rural bus routes where passengers might not be in the vicinity of a shop or other place where money could be changed.

flumpybear · 21/03/2018 11:48

You should have left enough time to get change he IMO as buses are t like shops where people deliver change to them if needed - it's not possible for them to carry so much change that anyone can pay with a note

VladmirsPoutine · 21/03/2018 11:50

I don't think yabu. But this is symptomatic of a wider problem with transport infrastructure in some areas of the UK.

In the midlands it seems you need the exact change to the penny. In London a card should suffice.

CompleteAisling · 21/03/2018 11:52

How can she possibly not BU? She wanted the driver to give her something he did not have! The only way she is not U is if magic money trees grow in bus cabs.

Original poster
Sarahh2014 · 21/03/2018 12:04

I think I was wrong for not having right money but he was wrong for refusing my travel.I spoke to another bus driver and he said they should never refuse a passenger,he said i could complain but as I was partly wrong decided not to

OP posts:
NorbertTheDragon · 21/03/2018 12:07

He didn't refuse you travel! You decided to refuse to accept his credit note and travel! Your choice. Otherwise anyone could get on a bus and claim to have either no money or only to have notes and get a free ride.

WhiteCoyote · 21/03/2018 12:10

You’re being very unreasonable. My partner is a bus driver - they’re not given any kind of cash float and can start the shift at any time of day. He’d probably just taken the bus over from another driver and didn’t have any change on him.

The amount of crap drivers get over things like this... do you honestly think they withhold the change on purpose just to spoil your day? Hmm

notsohippychick · 21/03/2018 12:12

Unless he is a magician he couldn’t conjure up change from thin air.

He offered you a solution and you refused.

Sorry, you are being a bit unreasonable.

CaffeineAndCrochet · 21/03/2018 12:12

It depends on what the normal policy is. Here, bus drivers don't handle money at all. It's correct change only and it goes into a little box that the driver has no access to. The driver can issue a credit note if you've paid too much but you need to go to head office to reclaim it.

EduCated · 21/03/2018 12:12

But he didn’t refuse you travel Confused

You could have travelled,but you chose not to accept the credit note option.

AngelsSins · 21/03/2018 12:16

Bus drivers should have change, its crazy to me that they don't. Mind you, try living in London, I wasn't let on a bus even with the exact change, because he wanted me to use an Oyster card instead, even though the top up machine wasn't working.

italiancortado · 21/03/2018 12:17

he was wrong for refusing my travel

He didn't refuse you travel. He refused you travel without payment. That is his job.

Not sure why you were away speaking to other bus drivers about it, you said you were not using more buses, but the other guy is wrong. You have no right to complain. The driver acted correctly.

purplecorkheart · 21/03/2018 12:28

But he didn't refuse you travel, he refused you travel without payment. He was happy to let you travel if you paid. You were the one with the note and refused credit.

The conversation with the other driver seems a bit odd to me. Does he work for the same company? Is he saying that if we all rock up to the bus with a note and refuse credit we get on for free?? Can't see any business running that way.

ilovesooty · 21/03/2018 12:29

I don't think they've given change in the Midlands for years.

I agree with a lot of the previous posters. You knew what the fare was and you didn't prepare yourself adequately.

TomRavenscroft · 21/03/2018 12:32

I don't think they've given change in the Midlands for years.

I've spent the last ten days in the Midlands (East) and been given change, as I said, from three bus drivers in that period.

TerfsUp · 21/03/2018 12:33

he said they should never refuse a passenger

Really? Even if the person has no money? That sounds very odd.

Ifonlyus · 21/03/2018 12:38

They don't always have enough change first thing in the morning. My local bus company allow you to use the credit note on another journey or get a refund from the bus station.

Userplusnumbers · 21/03/2018 12:38

I should add that its a massive fucking inconvenience for everyone else - I hate the buses that give change.

One person doesn't take long, but add that up at several passengers every stop...

EduCated · 21/03/2018 12:39

Obviously the Midlands is quite large, so there’s going to be variation! Lady time I caught a bus in Birmingham (admittedly not for a good while now!), there was no change given.

italiancortado · 21/03/2018 12:41

The conversation with the other driver seems a bit odd to me.

Indeed. I'm trying to work out why OP is happy to believe bus driver 2 is correct but bus driver 1 wasn't. Probably because bus driver 2 did with her opinion.

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