Reports on social media that a man – who had earlier in the day taken part in Walk the Wight with his year old puppy – was thrown off a Southern Vectis bus, has caused outrage among many Islanders.
A post was added to Facebook on Sunday which claimed the driver of a Route 2 bus kicked the man off the bus – on a road where there was no footpath – because she said his dog was whining too much.
Other passengers on the bus quickly responded to the post, claiming the driver had over-reacted, was abusive in front of children and was wrong to intervene as, “all passengers upstairs agreed he did nothing wrong”.
Police called
The driver is reported to have called the police, which meant the passengers on the bus were kept waiting until they arrived. However, Hampshire Constabulary have no record of attending an incident in that area. Southern Vectis confirmed the driver had called the police initially, but the matter didn’t go any further.
Having taken part in Walk the Wight earlier in the day, the man and his dog then had to walk from Sandford to Brading. His partner posted on Facebook that the dog’s paw pads were very sore, to the point that it would not let her touch them to check for any injury.
Being fully investigated
In response to the reports, Steve Roscoe, Southern Vectis operations manager, told OnTheWight,
“I am aware of reports that one of our drivers was involved in a disagreement with a passenger who boarded our Route 2 bus with a dog yesterday.
“At this stage, the circumstances surrounding this incident are unclear, and we are conducting a full investigation to establish exactly what happened.
“I would like to thank other passengers using this service for their patience and understanding.”
Get in touch
Southern Vectis say they are taking this very seriously and investigating. However, nobody who was there has contacted them.
If you witnessed, first hand, what happened please email [email protected] or phone 01983 827 000 (0915 to 1700 weekdays).
Witnesses speak out
One passenger on the bus commented on the Facebook post,
“As a passenger on the top of this bus I have to say that there was not one bad comment made by your other half towards this lady bus driver and the lady in question should be highly embarrassed about the way she acted.”
Article edit
12.37pm – Contact details for those who witnessed the incident added
