Face of Nation : A National Express coach driver has been suspended after he was accused by passengers of taking them on a “horrific and abusive” journey.
The driver was reported to the company for arriving two hours late, doing an emergency stop on the M5, and swearing at passengers.
The unidentified male picked up passengers at Heathrow Airport to take them back to Exeter, Devon, after their holidays.
But on the trip they were subjected to a ‘terrifying’ ride from the employee who was “grumpy and moaning” and “clearly lost.”
National Express said the driver had been suspended pending the outcome of an investigation.
Former deputy head teacher Beth Lees, 50, from Exeter, who had flown in from a holiday in Athens, said she had never witnessed anything like it.
She said the coach arrived more than two hours later just after 9pm on Saturday.
She told the BBC: “It was a journey from hell.
“The driver was clearly in a bad mood and was grumpy and moaning”.
After getting onto the M5 Ms Lees said they came off soon afterwards and “for an hour-and-a-half we roamed the countryside”.
She added: “He was clearly lost. A couple of ladies went up and said he was going the wrong way. He was saying ‘… off, it’s my ……. coach, I’m ….. driving it.”
At one point, she said the driver was “trying to force someone off the coach in the middle of nowhere”.
Some passengers offered to help the driver with directions and she said it “was getting quite scary”.
“Eventually he slammed on his brakes and veered onto the hard shoulder,” she added.
The coach pulled into Exeter at 1.40am and Ms Brewer told the driver she had “never been on such an appalling journey”.
National Express said it was concerned to hear the complaints and was investigating them as a priority.
It said all reports of unacceptable behaviour were taken very seriously.
A spokesman added that passengers had been given a complimentary ticket because of the delays.
