Bishop’s Stortford man slams Arriva after passengers are left stranded at bus stop in freezing cold
A 71-year-old Bishop’s Stortford man has hit out at bus company Arriva after he was among three passengers left stranded on the coldest night of the winter when the last service into town was cancelled.
Douglas Young was waiting at the bus stop at the junction of Newland Avenue and Franklin Street on the Stortford Fields estate on Saturday January 11. He was hoping to go into town with his wife for a meal and was waiting with a cleaner from the nearby Tesco superstore, who had just finished her shift.
The 511 to the town centre was due to arrive at 6.30pm but was running late. A new route for the service began this month, taking passengers from Bishop’s Park to the St James’ Park estate via the town centre and Thorley Park.
Douglas said that when the bus appeared at 6.37pm it had ‘Not in service’ on display, but the cleaner – who needed to connect to another service to get to Hatfield Heath – hailed it and it stopped.
“The bus stopped but the driver said it was not in service,” said Douglas. “We tried to persuade him but he wouldn’t let us on. It was absolutely freezing.”
He complained to Arriva, saying: “It was freezing cold and it is unacceptable to leave people stranded who had arrived at the stop in good time.”
In response, Arriva customer service advisor Kalvin Watson apologised for the inconvenience caused, saying “operational disruptions resulted in your service being curtailed short of its advertised destination”.
He added: “The driver did in fact finish his shift and completed his duty and terminated at Bishop’s Park Tesco. The next driver to take over from this bus had run late on his previous service and took his full meal break. The previous driver then had to bring the bus back to the depot.”
He added there was “no other option available” at the time.
Douglas and his wife were given a lift into town, along with the cleaner, by his daughter.
“How does Arriva justify leaving three bus passengers in the freezing cold?” Douglas asked when contacted by the Indie. “Is this happening a lot?”
He added that if just the cleaner had been left standing at the stop it would have been “shocking” for the bus driver to leave her there alone.
There have been many complaints about Arriva services in the Stortford area for several years, with reports of schoolchildren being left stranded at bus stops and Stansted Airport airline cabin crew seen walking along the A120 after their buses were cancelled. Other airport workers have resorted to taxis to get to work.