BEARING mind that we are constantly being urged to use public transport as much as possible, I would bring to the notice of readers the following incident.

On Tuesday, November 30, the X63 Stagecoach bus left Preston bus station at 4.45pm. Among the passengers were five young men who had obviously been drinking.

During the journey to Blackburn, passengers were subjected to singing, shouting and smoking from these young men. The driver did at least ask them to put out their cigarettes, but with little effect.

It seemed a long and uncomfortable journey with this sort of company, but the best was yet to come.

When we reached the Swallow Hotel at Samlesbury, the young men asked the driver to stop. When he did, they all got out to urinate at the road side.

The driver waited and then allowed them back on to the bus and the journey continued into Blackburn. There were other ladies on the bus besides my daughter and they were utterly disgusted.

This sort of behaviour is enough to put anyone off public transport for all time.

I can perhaps understand the driver not wanting to tackle five young men who were the worse for drink, but he could have driven off when they got off the bus at The Swallow.

Do you still want to use the bus? The fact remains, some people have no alternative.

Name and address received.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.