A Birmingham mother has claimed she was marched off a National Express West Midlands bus, despite having proof of fare payment for the service.
Inderjit Kaur has written of her “humiliating” and “embarrassing” experience after allegedly being told to leave the bus she was travelling on, even after presenting her proof of payment for the new contactless payment facility to the conductor on board.
In a post on Twitter, she recalls, “The most humiliating and embarrassing experience on NX West Midlands bus today. I used contactless to pay for my ticket as I do every day, I’ve totally transformed my travel habits, using bus, train, bike each day rather than car.
“Today, an inspector came up to me, said I hadn’t, even though I had proof of payment on my phone… It didn’t come up on the inspector’s system, so he told me in front of whole bus to get up and leave the bus; and then even though I had proof, proceeded to embarrass me in front of everyone [at the] bus stop.”
Kaur, who has been using public transport to reduce her carbon footprint, also shared a photo of her proof of payment to her Twitter followers.
She continued: “The problem was with his system, but he treated me like the dirt of his shoe. I explained I had paid, that I was on the way to get my son from school and needed to get there, and had paid. It all made no difference. I stood at the bus stop in tears feeling utterly humiliated.”
“All this on #CleanAirDay, where they are trying to persuade more people to travel by bus. How, on earth is this okay, welcoming or showing you can have a nice commute on the bus; or even remotely fair? What shall I do? This is NOT OK treatment of customers @nxwestmidlands!”
https://twitter.com/inderjitkaur77/status/1009854625112051715
https://twitter.com/inderjitkaur77/status/1009854637057462272
https://twitter.com/inderjitkaur77/status/1009854641411186689
“I have really been trying to change my habits too and this makes me utterly dismayed with whole thing. A reminder once again I HAD PAID THE MEASLY £2.40 @nxwestmidlands, you had no right to humiliate me, leave me in tears and remove me from bus whilst I was on the way to school run.”
According to Ms Kaur, the incident took place on the Number 24 bus going towards Harbourne at around 4.10pm yesterday afternoon (Thursday 21 June); but she was removed from the vehicle outside Harbourne Academy, well before her intended stop.
https://twitter.com/BhamCityCouncil/status/1009782189821775872
Oddly, Natonal Express West Midlands had rolled out a special free Day Saver bus pass yesterday to coincide with Clean Air Day, which was being offered to encourage more people to use public transport instead of their cars, helping to reduce vehicle emissions. This would’ve meant that Inderjit could’ve travelled for free regardless.
“It was terribly embarrassing at the time and was just shocked at the whole situation. The irony of it all is that I could have travelled for free all day on the bus as it’s #CleanAirDay2018, but I chose to pay £2.40.”
https://twitter.com/nxwestmidlands/status/1010052434708844550
Responding to Inderjit on the social media platform, a spokesperson for National Express stated:
“I am very sorry to hear of your experience yesterday. Can you please send us your contact number in a private message and I will ask our team to call you about this to discuss in more detail.”
Several Twitter users were outraged by the events described by Inderjit Kaur, with many questioning National Express’ new contactless payment service and the ability to verify payment:
https://twitter.com/ImmyKaur/status/1010045295835648000
https://twitter.com/JayJayBansal/status/1009887700869091328
https://twitter.com/businessgohs/status/1009862475209170944
https://twitter.com/businessgohs/status/1009867292363186176
https://twitter.com/georgereeves64/status/1010070136647274496
https://twitter.com/louise4change/status/1009892582225268736
https://twitter.com/Alisonbluesky/status/1009884695654551557
I'm so sorry to hear this happened. I had a pretty rubbish experience when I lost my pass a few years ago and had a pretty grotty interaction with the inspectors too. I totally get why they might be a bit tough to people who have no proof of payment but you clearly did…
— Laura Creaven (@lauracreaven) June 21, 2018
…if you don't get a proper response from @nxwestmidlands and you bloody well better because this sounds awful, please let me know and I'll bring it up at one of the Passenger Champion meetings, think there's one scheduled soon.
— Laura Creaven (@lauracreaven) June 21, 2018
So this happened on #CleanAirDay2018 @nxwestmidlands what on earth were you thinking! You embarrassed an honest person who was doing her bit. What an awful way to treat someone https://t.co/cmZDqOPDJK
— Ali B (she/her) (@AliBaskerville) June 21, 2018
We spend a lot of time encourage modal shift in Birmingham. This is very sad to see one of our team, reduced to tears due to @nxwestmidlands, especially on a day they are trying to show how easy it is or should, to change habits. #CleanAirDay https://t.co/muTuHNkrMo
— CIVIC SQUARE (@CIVIC_SQUARE) June 21, 2018
I've been very wary of the way they are implementing contactless. Using a phone seems to be just asking for humiliation or an argument. It's not just a technical change, it's a culture change.
— Daz Wright (@dazwright) June 21, 2018
I’m proper angry about the humanity of this. But also because as citizens & businesses all the onus is put on us to change & we working hard to do that & encourage it. Meanwhile bros like @nxwestmidlands can remain miserable, power hungry, expensive & so on.
— ਇਮਨਦੀਪ ਕੌਰ | Imandeep Kaur (@ImmyKaur) June 22, 2018
Agreed. This is not acceptable. Passenger has proof of fare paid and that should be all that is needed.
— Kevin Chapman (@chappersbrum) June 22, 2018
One for @andy4wm to note. It’s fine to big up contactless payments on buses but it needs to work. People getting thrown off buses due to ignorant @nxwestmidlands staff https://t.co/1prSJVXk9Z
— Dave Harte (@daveharte) June 21, 2018
National Express West Midlands recently launched contactless card payments on their buses in the region. The company’s website describes the payment method “as easy as 1, 2, 3”.
Information on the site explaining how bus inspectors would know a passenger has paid states:
“When our inspectors do a ticket check they will ask you for the last 4 digits of your card number or your device card number which will be checked against a list printed from the bus you are on.”
Earlier this month, it was announced that a Birmingham bus driver has beaten off competition from 47,000 employees from across the National Express Group, including colleagues from across the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Bahrain, Spain, Morocco and North America, to win the National Express Group Customer Value Award.
At the time of writing, National Express had not made a public statement about the incident.