Woman bruised when JB-Expo bus driver closed doors on her
The distance between JB Sentral bus terminal to Singapore Expo is less than 40km, a journey that can be completed in about an hour if there were no hold-ups at the Causeway.
However, that journey on a Transtar Travel coach left a mum physically injured and her 10-year-old daughter mentally and emotionally affected.
Ms Candy Tan, 43, recounted her Dec 12 ordeal on Facebook group Complaint Singapore.
The bus trip, she told AsiaOne, was unpleasant right from the start.
She was snubbed by the bus driver when she requested for her belongings to be stowed in the luggage compartment. He also yelled at Ms Tan and her daughter when they showed him their e-tickets.
Ms Tan lugged her bags up the bus, squeezing them in at the seats where she and her daughter were seated towards the rear.
Because they were saddled with their belongings, Ms Tan and her daughter chose to alight from the bus last to go through the customs at Woodlands Checkpoint, so as not to slow down the other passengers.
As Ms Tan was stepping off the bus, the driver closed the doors on her and started to drive off, causing her bags to tumble as she herself fell onto the pavement. He stopped the bus immediately and opened the doors to let Ms Tan's daughter off the bus.
"My daughter was wailing," said Ms Tan. "She asked the driver: 'Please help my mum. Why did you drive off when she and I had not got off the bus?'"
She added that it broke her heart to see her daughter in the situation while she herself was trying to regain her composure as she was taken aback and experiencing pain from her injuries.
Ms Tan also claimed that the driver alighted from the bus and shouted: "You all got out. Why can't I move? Not my problem," before driving off.
Passers-by and security staff helped Ms Tan, who sustained bruises and scrapes, to her feet.
Ms Tan said she contacted Transtar Travel but could not get a response.
"My leg hurts a lot when I put weight on it. The hospital did not find any broken bone but I feel sore everywhere," she added.
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