A DISTRAUGHT Worcester woman has slammed the ‘outrageous’ moment which saw her refused access to a city bus because she was carrying a pot of paint.
Marion Appleby, 64, wanted to catch the 31A bus from the Elgar Retail Park to St Stephen’s Church on Droitwich Road last Friday (September 4) following her shopping trip.
But when she went to catch the bus, the driver said that due to health and safety concerns he could not let her on board due to the pot of paint she had just bought.
Mrs Appleby, who suffers from an arthritic hip, told the Observer she was left in agony after having to walk the two mile journey back to her home.
The kind-hearted 64-year-old has been left distraught and bemused as to why a pot of paint could stop someone from being allowed to travel on a bus.
“I don’t understand why I wasn’t allowed on the bus because of a pot of paint, it’s outrageous. There were only three or four people on there at the time,” Mrs Appleby told the Observer.
“The bus driver said that because of health and safety he wouldn’t let me on. I was left in agony as I had to walk all the way home.
“The irony is that if I was carrying the pot of paint in a bag then maybe I could have got on board!
“But how are people supposed to know they can’t get on a bus if they’re carrying a pot of paint by the handle? There just isn’t any information about it,” she added.
A First Midland spokesman, who operates the bus route, said: “We apologise for any inconvenience caused with the lady being refused travel for trying to board a bus with a pot of paint.
“We do advise customers if intending to travel on a bus with any liquid based container, to ensure it is in a secure bag to avoid any spillage.
“It can be an expensive exercise to clean up if liquids are spilt and also an inconvenience to other bus users if we have to remove the bus from service.
“In this particular instance, we would expect our driver to use some discretion and have allowed travel under the circumstances. This did not happen, to which we apologise,” he added.
