Mum-of-four left ‘shaking and crying’ after being kicked off bus on way home from hospital by driver ‘annoyed at her toddler’s CRYING’
A MUM-of-four on her way home from a hospital appointment was kicked off the bus by its driver – because one of her kids was crying.
Distraught mum Michelle Swan, 33, told how the driver stopped a full bus on the busy A21 to shout at her because one of her toddlers was in tears.
She said despite trying “everything” to keep youngster Rocco quiet, she was left shocked and intimidated when the driver ordered her to get off the bus.
Michelle, from Tonbridge, Kent, was travelling home from hospital with two of her children, twins Rocco and Tiger, when the incident occurred.
She spoke of the nightmare journey: "I had been to a hospital appointment because Tiger can't walk properly and is having serial casting on his legs and feet all the time and he learns to walk with them.
"About every two weeks he goes to have new ones fitted.
"He has to have physio as well.
"We go about three or four times a month.
"I had tried everything to stop Rocco crying, but there is only so much you can do."
The young family had been travelling on the Autocar Bus and Coach Services 208 bus from Tunbridge Wells Hospital to Tonbridge at approximately 11.45am on Thursday.
The 33-year-old mum says she was standing with her double pushchair as no one had offered her a seat, when the driver started shouting at her.
Michelle said this only served to make two-year-old Rocco cry more, and added she was “shaking and fighting back tears” herself.
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She said: "I just froze, I felt awful. I'd been to hospital with one of the boys because he can't walk and is having casts removed.
"We were in a traffic jam, so the bus was probably already stopped.
"He came up to me and was just staring at me then said 'give him a bloody sweet and get off the bus', and I said I couldn't get off on a busy road in the middle of nowhere."
A spokesperson for the bus company confirmed the driver has been suspended over the incident.
The representative for Autocar Bus and Coach Services said: "We spoke to Miss Swan for around 15 minutes and listened carefully to everything she had to say.
"Our manager apologised several times to her.
"We took down the code on her bus ticket so we could establish who the driver was.
"The driver was spoken to and given a day's suspension.
"We take complaints very seriously and our customer service and care is paramount to us and we do not tolerate any disrespectful behaviour to our customers."
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