Story One, A Bus Pass

This is the English Bus Pass. It replaced all the local passes that were used before April 01 this year. Due to a problem at the printers which does not seem to be resolved some passes were not issued on time. To overcome this problem temporary passes were issued to be used in conjunction with the old passes but if you have been issued with a new pass please either throw the old one away or put it in a cupboard and forget about it. It is as much use as a 1945 Ration book. Maybe in 50 years time some collectors of ancient memorabilia will pay good money for an old bus pass but don't hold your breath. The reason I give this advice is to prevent incidents like the one that upset my day today from happening.

Four passengers boarded the bus and the lead passenger said, "Four with passes to Babbacombe, please." Actually he might not have said please but lets be generous. Before issuing the tickets I waited till each person had shown me their pass. A wise move, one of the passes was an old local authority pass with no sign of a temporary pass to go with it. I pointed out that the pass was not acceptable for travel in Torquay. The person said why not. I explained it wasn't the new style English pass like the other three. She said it was. I said it wasn't and pointed at her pass and one of the other passes. Not the same. Two of the passengers then demanded to know if their passes were acceptable. I reassured them that they were. The person, female, then assured me she had used the pass on the way down, (this statement is important later in the story). She then made to get off the bus but the fact that it was raining made her change her mind and one of the other passengers paid her fare, £1.50. First he put down 35 pence and said "I need an other penny." The penny was found eventually and added to the 35p. £1.14 short of the fare. I did mention that it was raining. There was a queue outside the bus getting wet but our heroes weren't rushing. I carefully explained the money tendered was short by £1.14. A further discussion followed as to whether the next bus driver might accept the pass. I knew he wouldn't because if they did get off my bus every bus driver in town would know one of these four didn't have the correct pass. About 5 seconds after they got off, but they didn't get off, shame. Anyway, finally, a total of £1.55 was placed in the cash tray and I carefully returned the extra 5p. The rest of the passengers boarded and off we went. When we got to Babbacombe episode two took place. One of the four stood on the platform and stated that on the way down the driver had only charged £1.25 and I had charged £1.55. He wasn't pleasant about it but I just smiled sweetly and expressed the wish that they, "All have a good day now."

Now I hadn't charged £1.55 even though the gave me £1.55, remember I gave 5p back, and the driver could not have charged £1.25 on the way down as there isn't a £1.25 fare anywhere on that section of the route. It's either £1.50 or £1.45 or 70p. But hang on a moment, didn't the female passenger with the worthless pass say she had used it on the way down? Yes she did. So how could she have been charged £1.25 to get down? Another of life's little mysteries.

I do love my job.