Stranded bus passengers compensated

The President of the Tribunal for Consumer Claims, Faridah Abrahim ruled that a bus company has defaulted in providing its service and was ordered to compensate RM853 to a bus passenger.

Norlinda Mustapha, a bus passenger, bought 5 bus tickets on last Jan 21 at the Jalan Duta, Kuala lumpur which are scheduled for departure on Feb 5 at 10pm.

Two of the tickets are for Alor Setar to Kuala Lumpur destination and the balance three are for Alor Setar to Johor Bahru costing RM38 and RM70.30 respectively.

On the day of departure, she was shocked to learn from the bus counter staff at the Shahab Perdana bus terminal, Alor Setar that all the 5 tickets that she bought were not listed in their ticketing record and was told that their bus tickets are invalid.

Norlinda said, it was getting late into the night and the bus terminal was crowded with people rushing to back for the Chinese New Year festive holidays, she and her friends have no other alternatives and finally decided to hire a car which cost them RM250 to continue with their journey.

She said as a result of the bus company fault, on top of the car hire fare, she and her friends have to bear the additional costs for the toll fees, fuel and the 5 tickets that she had bought earlier.