A Peter Pan bus driver took revenge on passengers who complained about his unsafe driving by refusing to let anyone off the bus while making an unexpected thirty minute stop in Framingham, MA. One angry passenger who noticed the driver’s erratic swerving, Brian Moore, blogged about his experience as a surprise hostage on the trip from New York to Boston.

When we arrived at our only stop along the ride in Framingham, MA at 4:35 PM, about 20 minutes away from Boston, the people who had gotten their tickets to Framingham walked off of the bus. I was surprised and delighted to see that we were about 25 minutes ahead of schedule and that we would arrive in Boston ahead of time- something I was looking forward to after my previous trip. However, after the bus driver stood outside for 5 minutes to smoke a cigarette, he came back inside the bus and made an announcement:

“Usually,” he said, “on Sundays, I leave right after I drop off the passengers. You’d be about thirty minutes early. However, on the way here, I was told on my radio, ‘are you alright?’ I said, ‘yeah I’m fine,’ and they had told me that someone on this bus had called in and said that I was swerving all over the road and falling asleep.'”

I personally noticed this a bit along the way.

“And, since someone said this, and aggravated me, I’m going to aggravate you. We aren’t going to leave until 5 o’clock [25 minutes from then]. And no, you can’t go out and smoke.”

The driver kept us captive on the bus. Some people voiced their opinions, some even apologizing for whomever called the company that he was swerving. One person said, “I don’t know why you’re punishing all of us for something one person said,” and he replied, “one apple spoils all of the rest.” A woman asked if he could continue “because of the baby.” He said, “What baby?” The woman replied, “my baby,” picked up her child and showed it to him. “No way,” he said, and stood there, staring at us.

Peter Pan—which calls themselves “The People Professionals”—has suspended the driver and launched an investigation. The driver claims that he didn’t know he could continue straight to Boston, which is almost as believable as the mysterious letter of support sent to Peter Pan:

[Director Of Safety And Security, Christopher Crean] also received what he described as an atypical handwritten letter from a third passenger, faxed to him with no return address or phone number, praising the driver for acting “respectfully and courteously” despite “agitated” passengers.

To: Peter Pan Customer Service
Subject: Held Captive on a Bus [Lane Winfield]
No ride, no escape from angry bus driver [Boston Globe] (Thanks to Bobby!)

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