warriorofrovac
Member
- Joined
- 23 Feb 2006
- Messages
- 313
PASSENGERS on a bus trip from Aberdeen to Inverness found themselves on a journey into the unknown when it appeared that their novice driver from Poland had become lost.
They claim the driver of the No 10 Stagecoach Bluebird service, one of 44 Poles recently recruited by the North-east's main rural bus operator, had problems navigating the busy A96 and that, at one stage, one of the passengers had to help direct him with the aid of a map.
Yesterday, as the wife of one of the passengers called for Brian Souter, Stagecoach's chief executive, to "hang his head in shame" over the fiasco, the company insisted that, while the driver might have asked passengers for directions, it did not mean he was unaware of where he was going.
Lesley Tock, whose husband Colin, 56, had boarded the bus to the Highland capital, said he had phoned her to complain that the driver appeared "totally lost".
Steve Stewart, a spokesman for the bus company, denied the driver had been lost. He said: At no point did he have to refer to a map. He talked to a passenger to reassure himself he was on the right route, in the same way that anyone who was unfamiliar with any journey would clarify directions."
They claim the driver of the No 10 Stagecoach Bluebird service, one of 44 Poles recently recruited by the North-east's main rural bus operator, had problems navigating the busy A96 and that, at one stage, one of the passengers had to help direct him with the aid of a map.
Yesterday, as the wife of one of the passengers called for Brian Souter, Stagecoach's chief executive, to "hang his head in shame" over the fiasco, the company insisted that, while the driver might have asked passengers for directions, it did not mean he was unaware of where he was going.
Lesley Tock, whose husband Colin, 56, had boarded the bus to the Highland capital, said he had phoned her to complain that the driver appeared "totally lost".
Steve Stewart, a spokesman for the bus company, denied the driver had been lost. He said: At no point did he have to refer to a map. He talked to a passenger to reassure himself he was on the right route, in the same way that anyone who was unfamiliar with any journey would clarify directions."