Disabled teenager films moment when a London bus driver leaves her stranded on the side of the road in Kingston
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Version 0 of 1. A teenager in a wheelchair captured the moment a London bus driver refused to let her onboard on camera. Melody Powell, 17, was left stranded by the side of the road in Kingston, south London on Friday after the driver of a 71 bus lowered the disabled access ramp in front of the bus stop pole - meaning she did not have enough space to get on – then drove off. Her friend, Isabelle Miller, had asked the driver to lower the ramp and was waiting on the bus for her friend before the driver pulled away leaving Melody on the kerb. Melody - who has muscular dystrophy - said she was filming the bus at the time to show her American boyfriend how wheelchair ramps on buses work in the UK. Writing on Facebook she said: “After my friend boarded the bus and asked the driver to pull forward as the ramp wouldn't reach the kerb, he drove too far forward and the ramp was blocked by the bus stop itself. “After this a kind lady tried to explain this to the driver but he simply shut the doors and drove off with my friend on the bus leaving me alone and in the cold.” She said Isabelle then asked the driver to wait for her at the next stop but he refused - nor would he let her get off to go back to Melody. The driver allegedly drove for another half a mile with Isabelle onboard before she was able to get off and find her friend. Melody’s mother Anita told the London Evening Standard her daughter was really “shocked and upset to have just been left like that”. She said: “By the time she got home she was really, really angry that he could do that. “She doesn’t often go on London transport on her own but that would certainly stop her doing it. “She’s capable of doing it but I don’t think she’d feel 100 per cent safe and secure really.” Transport for London (Tfl) said they are now investigating the incident, which they said did not meet the standards they expected from their drivers. |