Bus boys uit geskop
KWAAD: Mikaeel Arendse with tickets KWAAD: Mikaeel Arendse with tickets
A Parktown father is furious after his young son and his friend were allegedly left stranded in the dark at Cape Town Station after Intercape staff threw them off a bus.
Mikaeel Arendse, 55, says a holiday trip for the teens to Vanrhynsdorp got off to a horrific start on Thursday when they were put off a bus and left alone at the terminus.
Arendse says he bought one-way tickets for his son, Mogamat Saeed Abrahams, 14, and Nishaat Harris, 13, at Usave in Surrey Estate.
He paid R790, and the next day took them to the Intercape bus terminal at 6.30pm.
“They took their baggage, allocated seats to them and they boarded the bus. I even spoke to a group of nurses on the bus and they promised to keep an eye on them,” the dad explains.
BANG: Mogamat Saeed Abrahams at terminus
“We were sitting in traffic going home when my son called me to say they were being put off the bus because something was wrong with the tickets. I asked to speak to the hostess on the bus and she refused.”
Arendse says they found the teens traumatised and in tears.
“Have you seen what that place looks like at night? How could they put the children in an unsafe situation like that surrounded by skelms?”
Arendse says he went back to Usave and was told the cashier had put the wrong date on the tickets.
“They apologised and gave my money back. But what I don’t understand is how Intercape allowed the boys to board the bus in the first place?”
Intercape spokesperson, Jacques van Wyk, says at no stage were the children left alone.
“The children were accompanied by a representative of Intercape the whole time and the necessary phone call was made. The children were further accompanied until the father collected them.”
He said the passenger coordinator usually checks tickets once passengers are seated, and found the boys had expired tickets.
“The father departed early and left the children without making sure they have valid tickets and without making sure they have boarded the bus properly.”
But Arendse says Intercape is lying. “They’re just covering their as**s because they know they are going to be exposed in the Daily Voice.”