Coach firm defends leaving teens behind
Last updated 13:19, Monday, 01 September 2008
A CARLISLE coach firm accused of leaving four teenagers stranded at Alton Towers because they were seven minutes late for a bus has defended its actions.
Jack Zihni, 13, Jodie Sullivan, Christopher O’Carroll, and Emily Rae, all 16, found themselves more than four hours from home without any money after Irving’s Coaches left them at the theme park last Sunday.
But the company says it has been inundated with messages of support after the story was broken by the News & Star last Wednesday.
After investigating, Irving’s said its driver actually left the car park nine minutes after the scheduled departure of 5.30pm.
A spokesman added: “My colleague on call that weekend received the first call at 6.13pm on our emergency line and a second abusive call at 6.15pm.
“The first call was from someone who asked: ‘Could the driver not have waited five minutes?’ We did.
“The driver returned a missed call from the emergency line at 6.20pm and was unable to return for the passengers due to his working limitations.
“The two parents that contacted us were advised to call the office or the travel shop on Tuesday morning. They have not yet contacted us.
“At no point were the children advised that the coach would wait for them if they were late.
“All passengers are deemed responsible for ensuring that they return to the coach ready for the advised departure time.
“This may change from time to time for many different reasons but the passengers are always advised. In this case we have been returning from Alton Towers at 5.30pm for many years.
“Although this isolated incident has been portrayed to be the fault of Irving’s Coaches, I disagree. The passengers missed the coach.
“I understand the frustration of the parents having to travel down to Alton Towers to pick up the children along with the costs involved but I am relieved to hear that they were safe.”
The teenagers, who had been on a day trip organised by Irving’s, claim they had been told to be at the bus pick-up point for 5.30pm, but a queue hold-up on a ride meant they did not return until 5.37pm.
By that time the coach had gone – despite the driver stating he would wait until 5.40pm before leaving.
Emily’s father had to make the 170-mile trip to pick them up.
Because the group had no money they alerted staff, who said they could wait in the theme park’s hotel until he arrived.
They eventually got home at 2am the next morning.
Why the fuss and argument? The coach was scheduled to leave at 17:30 hrs. The driver is not obliged to wait even one minute later than that if that is his scheduled departure time. All passengers are made aware and should make arrangements to be at the departure point IN GOOD TIME. If the kids want to try and cram in an extra ride and risk being late then that is their decision, but if they are not at the departure point when the coach leaves it their hard luck. Children should learn to be more RESPONSIBLE. The culture of today is to blame someone else (the coach driver / Irvings) for their own or their offspring's inadequacies. Get real, the driver did the right thing. I wouldn't evan have waited the seven minutes past the departure time - he might not then have been stuck in the queue! Anyone thought of that?
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"Also, if he sat in a queue of traffic till 5.50 pm, meaning he didn't leave Alton Towers until 20 minutes after he was supposed to, did he have to drop everyone off 20 minutes out of Carlisle, or did he go over his driving hours?"
If you don't think drivers/companies allow extra time in case of traffic jams then you're a bit simple.If you think the're going to waste this time on people who think themselves above 49 other passengers who can get to the coach on time(having already waited 9 minutes over that time), and potentially hit traffic later on and have a bus and 49 people stranded mies away from home when the hours run out, you're a little deluded also.
Posted by Tom on 17 September 2008 kl. 15:50