A BUS driver told a visually impaired York man that his pass did not entitle him to travel before 9am - even though the man had a letter from the drivers’ bus firm saying he could travel at any time.

Ronald Milner, who can suffer an epileptic seizure if he suffers stress, said he obtained the letter from First and City of York Council after suffering problems previously while trying to use the Visual Impairment pass to travel in the mornings.

York Press:

The headed letter states: “Dear bus driver, Mr Milner has a bus pass for people with a visual impairment. His VI pass entitles him to travel at any time - including before 9am.

“He has been having problems using his bus pass on the No 5 and No1 route in the mornings. He finds this very stressful and this can cause him to have a seizure...

“How can you help? Please allow Mr Milner to proceed with his journey.”

The notes on the back of Mr Milner’s pass also states: “Blind person’s pass: valid within City of York at any time of day.”

But Mr Milner, 67, of The Groves, said that when he recently caught the number 5A bus to travel from Clarence Street to the railway station at 8.45am, the driver did not want to accept the pass, even though he showed him the letter.

He said the driver said he would allow him to travel as a one-off, but he would need to apply for a different pass and he would not be allowed to travel using the pass in future.

Diane Roworth, chief officer of York Blind and Partially Sighted Society, said there could be confusion between different passes, as a person who was partially sighted could not travel with their pass before 9am whereas a person registered as blind could.

“I fail to understand why the bus driver did not take the pass at face value, particularly as it was supported by a letter,” she said, but added that the society had a good relationship with First, which had some ‘excellent’ drivers.

First managing director Marc Bichtemann said staff prided themselves on offering a great customer experience for all passengers, and it therefore saddened him to hear when it had not delivered on its promise.

“I’d like to apologise on behalf of the business that Mr Milner was unable to use his bus pass and I’d like to assure him that we are investigating this a priority,” he said.

“We are making arrangements to meet with Mr Milner personally so that we can discuss the incident and so we can ensure it does not happen again.”