Elderly Man Restrained by Police after Confrontation with Bus Driver in Bideford

An elderly man was restrained by Police in Bideford last week after a confrontation with a Stagecoach bus driver.

According to witnesses the 319 bus to Hartland allegedly left the Bideford bus stop a couple of minutes early.  An elderly gentleman had seen the bus ready to go and ran down the street waving to the driver to let him know he wished to catch the bus.

The driver did not wait, and the gentleman was extremely upset. Initially the

bus was only a couple of feet from the curb. The gentleman stepped in

front of the bus to ask the driver to allow him to board the bus but the driver refused.  The driver pulled away from the curb in a manner that one witness described as "a very threatening manner towards the potential passenger".

Passengers at the bus stop witnessed a stand off and eventually police officers

attended the scene. Neither party could be reasoned with and the

gentleman was physically removed from the scene.

Witness Laura Jones said "Watching two police officers drag and lift a man of approximately

70 years of age into the back of a police car, because a bus driver

refused to let him on to a bus which had in fact left early was

traumatic and deeply saddening."

Stagecoach South West have commenced a formal investigation into the incident but have stated that their onboard ticket machine shows that the driver did not leave the bus stop before his alloted time of departure.

Operations Director, Richard Stevens commented "I am truly disappointed that things escalated to this extent and were not able to be satisfactorily resolved without the need for Police intervention. This driver as with all our staff is trained in conflict avoidance, which makes the turn of events even more concerning. I assure you that when our investigation is concluded any appropriate action or measure will be taken to prevent a reoccurrence of any incidents of this nature.