Bus driver wouldn't let my dad on bus aibu to think he is a jobsworth?

[oohopo]

My dad is 85.
He has a bus pass.
He was coming to my house last night for tea.
He got on bus and his pass wouldn't work (it has a tiny rip in)
It was valid for two years still.
Normally you tap your pass and they let you on.
Obviously when he was tapping it wasn't registering.
So he had to get off and go home to get his wallet.
He was coming to mine so didn't think he needed anything but his pass.

It made zero difference to that bus driver
Aibu to think it's a shitty thing to do to a elderly man.

It says in the wallet that my child’s zip card came in, if you don’t have your pass, you pay. Some of her friends have to pay half fare, because of where they live. This thing about the kids being free in London is true, if they have the correct pass. As I said some pay half fare.

Over 60s cannot travel between 0430 and 0900 hours in London niw, but pre covid they could, children and adults with certain free passes still can. It’s all abit odd now in London, that age discrimination seems to be acceptable by the card issuers!!

It made zero difference letting my dad on for the 3 stops ...and in my opinion he is a jobsworth.
My dads rang up for a replacement this morning

The people sticking up for the bus driver would obviously have made the man get off too. Lovely people.

YANBU. What a mean-spirited thing to do when he was so clearly entitled to free travel.

Would a bus driver - a skilled worker - actually lose their job because they let an obviously elderly person ride the bus when their pass didn’t scan? Is that where we are now?

There was a very famous case in Australia where a bus driver didn’t stop to pick up a young teenage boy because he was running behind schedule and knew there was another bus a few minutes away. By the time the 2nd bus went by the boy had been abducted. He was murdered. There was a change in policy that children cannot be refused entry to a bus even if they have no pass or fare.

😂

I've got a friend who's a bus driver and I'm sure he would have let the man on the bus - because he is not a twat.

I would complain and I have done so myself in the past. My 14 year olds Oyster card wouldn’t register when tapped one morning and the bus driver wouldn’t allow him on even when DS then said he could pay instead using Apple Pay - told him to get off the bus, it was 7.30 in the morning. TFL took the matter very seriously, think there had been several complaints about the driver. Coincidentally after this it was in the news that some bus drivers were refusing school children on the bus.

Perhaps you could take your dad's dignified response rather than name calling the key workers who continued getting you all to work during a pandemic with no protection while their colleagues were all dropping like flies 😉

I would probably complain. It was mean and surely not the attitude the company wants.

@ProFannyTea and? Because someone is a "key worker" doesn't make him or her any less of a bit of a prick
Also I'm a key worker myself...but I know how to treat the elderly

I don’t know, I think it should be the same rule for all passengers I often see the bus driver refusing to let school children on as they’ve lost their pass but it’s clear they are children and even dressed in uniform but drivers are happy to tell them they can’t get on.

Exactly this. I’m quite surprised at the comments but maybe because I live in London and ALL people get told to get off the bus if there pass is broken/cracked/invalid etc. People are saying complain but I don’t see what the driver actually did wrong? It would have been nice for him to let the OPs dad on but the machine recognised it wasn’t working and told him to get off. Why is that wrong?

I can’t tell you the amount of times school kids forget their zip oyster or the oyster will have a crack in it and the bus driver still won’t let them on. Kids don’t even pay for travel yet they’ll be in their school uniforms still getting turned away! There’s been a few times when I’ve had my double buggy but haven’t had enough on my oyster so I’ve been asked to get off. A couple of polite drivers have still let me on but they didn’t need too. I don’t see why it should be one rule for one and one rule for another just because they’re older?

Yep this. It’s as if people don’t know how these services work

Did you really just type this?

If the bus was near capacity and the bus driver was making a choice between missing a fare, then maybe. As it stands I'm betting the bus wasn't anywhere near full and seeing as it was going in that direction anyway, why not let an elderly person board.
I don't use buses much anymore, but my experience is that some bus drivers are lovely and helpful and some are miserable bastards that don't much like people. I'm guessing this bus driver falls into the latter category.

This is the reason why an adult - elderly or not - would never leave the house without any money or cards or means of payment.

Why should the bus driver risk his job or the bus company not be paid because your dad failed to take a basic sensible precaution most adults would do as a matter of course?

This. Definitely complain

Really? I didn’t actually know that. I thought children everywhere had free travel

I would complain. If the bus driver was "doing the right thing" and "following procedures", then it becomes a complaint about their procedures.

They weren't that nice if they "gave her what for". How would she have given him change? They do not take cash so wouldn't have a float.

Why do you get special treatment just because you’re old….

Again, I don’t think the bus driver did anything wrong. It would have been nice to let your dad on but he didn’t have too. Unfortunately your dad’s pass had a crack in it making it faulty which couldn’t be used

@mellicauli risk his job ?allowing a man with a in date bus pass that wouldn't scan on a bus?
We aren't talking a ripped in half pass..it was a small rip which wasn't noticeable

@DoubleBuggyDriver not even because your old -common decency

IS the bus company on twitter? That's not nice.

😂Oh dear. Are you human? Or even humane?

Terrible. Happened to a friend’s elderly mother (who was going to a church meeting). My friend put in a complaint with the bus company.
Left on the roadside on a winter’s evening because the bus arrived earlier (during peak-time) a few minutes before her pass allowed.