XL Bully on coach

[Butterytoastandtea]

My daughter spent the day in a city (about 3.5 hours away) and got the bus back last night. She said she was quite anxious as a couple of men with an xl bully sat behind her and spent the journey rolling spliffs. She said it stank. She wanted to move but was scared to draw any attention to herself. I suppose the drugs were secondary. She was very afraid of the dog. I googled and their policy from 2023 says only guide dogs or in carriers allowed.

Am I being unreasonable to expect to be able to travel on a coach (for 3+) hours without being frightened of other people's large animals? It doesn't seem safe. Do I need to get a grip, does she? I don't know what is normal anymore! I would have picked her up if I knew this was a possibility.

Edited to add she's 17

Op the best thing is to both email and call and ask what the policy is. No one should feel afraid like that and the driver should have had the confidence to stop them boarding.

He should have been confident to call the police if necessary.

I also completely understand her issue of moving or staying put.

Awful.

The bus company may not even be aware of this sort of thing.so.by raising it you will help them to define what they do.

Also the fact that the driver allowed them to even board with a large dog that’s not actually allowed just proves that he himself was too afraid to do or say anything to them!

Exactly!

Moving is not complaining, although I think it would be fine for DD to speak with the driver. If the driver feels unsafe, which is bot unreasonable, he can quietly summon the police.

What's the problem? XL bullies have to have a muzzled so there is no danger there. She should have moved nearer to the driver if she felt that anxious and uncomfortable. Not wanting to draw attention to herself by moving is a bit of a dramatic excuse not to move as not once did you say the dogs were trying to approach her or the men were hassling her. It just sounds like another XL bully bashing thread. But I forget it's Mumsnet and everyone hates them on here. Obviously the dog was allowed on the coach otherwise the driver would not let it on and an XL bully is pretty hard to hide away for 3 and a half hours also I'm sure a coach full of people would complain to the driver about the smell of canibis if it was really that bad. In fact the driver wouldn't allow it. To be honest I think it's more concerning that you think rolling spliffs constantly for 3and a half hours is secondary to a muzzled dog that was just sitting on a coach not doing anything apart from being guilty of making your precious daughter anxious. So yeah I'd say get a grip.

If you were responding to me, this was the main point of my first post. I encouraged OP to complain to the coach firm.

OP said clearly in her first message that only guide dogs and dogs in carrier baskets are allowed, by the rules if the coach firm.

It isn’t for you or me or the guys with the bully to argue that.

🙄 From the opening post:

I googled and their policy from 2023 says only guide dogs or in carriers allowed.

It was one dog.

Is your username ironic?

I was thinking would contacting 101 online have done anything? Maybe they could have intercepted the bus?

How awful for her though. She'll be dreading it now.

Police intercepting a bus on the off chance some has correctly identified an xl bully. Takes DLOs a lot more than a passing glance to identify them.

No dogs are allowed on the bus, so whether the dog is a bully is secondary.

But the antagonised and stoned irresponsible owners then have to get off the bus passing other members of the public, if the guys kick off and then the dog does it could genuinely lead to multiple fatalities. That's worst case scenario. But anyone used to people like this surely know it's best to keep your head down. Also the fear that something escalates and the police take their sweet time. Poor driver was likely praying nobody was going to make him say anything. Because he would have to ask them to leave, the police won't come just because people are scared of some men and a dog.

Agree

they shouldn’t have been allowed on at all.

At 19.05 yesterday @365RubyRed posted of a recent incident where the police came to meet a bus because a passenger was smoking.

The guys on your DD’s bus had the bully against all rules and were also smoking spliffs. What is your evidence for saying that the police would not have come if the driver had called or your DD had texted them?

What, you mean you can't bend over and shit a car out?!
Thought we could all do that 😂

Was it actually an xl bully? Not a staffy or similar? Im finding it hard to picture how an xl bully would fit!

Sorry - I should have been clear, they werent actually smoking them they were just preparing them.

I emailed the company and they said DD had to email herself so they can investigate, she said she won't as she doesn't want the driver to get into trouble.

Also for future reference she should have moved. They likely wouldnt have cared but if they had for some reason decided to take offence she could have just said "its nothing personal i just have an allergy to dogs"
Its highly unlikely they would have noticed, cared or said anything though.

Maybe it wasn't. I didn't see it, I'm not confident I could tell. Dd was confident it was but I have no evidence.

I should probably amend the title of this thread then

Find them on social media. Post something along the lines of 'Can I just check whether dogs are allowed on your coaches or not?' And go from there.

She needs to grow up fast if she’s going to uni in the autumn, OP. As an academic, I worry for someone who cannot act on her own behalf, cannot seek help, and doesn’t want someone to get into trouble for letting others break the rules and put her in harm’s way.

Even if the dog was not a bully, the driver permitted the rule breaking and mental anguish to your DD so the essence of my comment above is valid.

OP, IIRC you haven’t answered the question about whether the dog was muzzled? Which may or may not indicate whether it was a bully. I think they should be banned, but have noticed that they are usually muzzled in public.

The dog might notice, though.

Everyone on that bus is in that same category. She's capable but her judgement told her to keep her head down. Have you never been in a situation where it's best just to lie low? She was following the lead of every adult on that bus who did the same.

As an academic you might appreciate her sense of workers solidarity.