A student has accused a bus driver of racism after claiming she was kicked off a bus in a row over a £1.60 fare.
Farrahn Spence was travelling to a lecture at Manchester Metropolitan University on Tuesday morning when she claims the ‘confrontational’ bus driver demanded she get off after supposedly failing to pay the full fare.
Events management student Ms Spence had paid the usual £1.60 fare for the 10-minute journey but claims the driver got out of his cab and raged that it was £2 for the journey.
The red-faced 20-year-old claims she offered him the additional 40p but was told it would cost another £1.60 just to go to the next stop – and was ordered to cough up or get off.
Events management student Farrahn Spence paid the usual £1.60 fare for the journey but claims the driver got out of his can and raged that it was £2 for the journey
Stagecoach Manchester said their investigation provided no evidence that the driver behaved in an aggressive or discriminatory manner but acknowledged that the driver should have accepted the 40p and not demanded another £1.60 from Farrahn.
Farrahn, originally from Tyseley, Birmingham, but living in Manchester, said: ‘Every time I’ve gone to this stop I’ve always paid £1.60 – there’s never been any issue.
‘When we got to the Oxford Road stop the driver got out of his cab, I thought he was going to help someone disabled or with a wheelchair, and walked through the packed bus towards me.
‘He pointed at me and said ‘you’ and summoned me over. I was told ‘get off the bus, your fare ended here, if you wanted the next stop you should have paid £2’.
‘He wouldn’t let me pay the additional 40p and instead said I needed to pay another £1.60.
Ms Spence pictured with the bus ticket that sparked the alleged row between her and the Stagecoach driver
‘I was so embarrassed – I felt discriminated against. Everyone on the bus seemed to be white, there was only me and another black girl on there.
‘I don’t know why he felt he had to get out of his cab to kick me off. It seemed like he had a bigger agenda to discriminate against me whether it’s because I’m black or I’m female.
‘It goes to show that racism and other issues are still alive and raging in 2017.’
Farrahn chose to get off the bus and limped the rest of the journey after suffering a torn ligament in her ankle and ended up late to her lecture.
The second-year student said: ‘I could have walked if my ankle wasn’t injured – it was agonising even walking that short distance.
Ms Spence said she felt embarrassed and said the driver ‘seemed like he had a bigger agenda to discriminate against me’
‘The driver embarrassed me, disrespected me and inconvenienced me – it’s really upset me.
‘He had multiple opportunities to use his discretion to allow me to continue with my journey without all of this embarrassment.
‘There are thousands of new students in the city all trying to catch buses – he could do with being a bit more thoughtful – there’s no need to make people feel like that.
‘I’m sceptical of getting the bus again – in future I think I’ll walk.’
A Stagecoach Manchester spokesman said: ‘After the passenger contacted us on Tuesday to notify us of this incident we immediately launched an investigation.
A spokesman for Stagecoach said: ‘We have contacted the passenger directly to apologise for the inconvenience she experienced’
‘Our investigation provided no evidence that the driver behaved in an aggressive or discriminatory manner.
‘We welcome all passengers on board our services regardless of their background.
‘It does appear that the problem occurred because of a misunderstanding between the driver and the passenger about which stop she wanted to travel to, for which we are extremely sorry.
‘We are particularly sorry for the inconvenience caused, in view of the injury she already had to her leg.
‘Our driver should have accepted the 40p to make good the difference.
‘We are providing additional training for our driver to prevent this from happening again.
‘We have contacted the passenger directly to apologise for the inconvenience she experienced.’