Denied toilet break by bus driver, woman gets Rs 15,000 compensation in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: For something as common as reaching the destination late by five hours, and not breaking the journey for even refreshments during the entire travel time, a college student took a travel company to task and won a compensation of Rs 15,000 apart from the ticket refund of  Rs 2,136.

At the district consumer redressal forum, Rangareddy, a 20-year-old C Abhilasha argued that the bus, belonging to Orange Tours and Travels, in which she was travelling from Pune to Hyderabad, did not stop even for a loo break even though it was running late. It virtually ruined her journey in what was supposed to be a ‘luxury’ ride back home, claimed the Vanasthalipuram resident.

On October 14, 2017, Abhilasha had booked an air-conditioned luxury sleeper bus to travel to the city.
Though she turned up at the boarding point in Pune on time and the bus started at 8.55 p.m, it reached the destination in Hyderabad at 12.30 p.m on the next day.  

The five-hour-delay in reaching the city coupled with the 11-hour journey was laced with a high degree of inconvenience as Abhilasha could not even attend nature’s call with the driver not stopping the vehicle. She alleged that repeated complaints to the bus driver went unheeded.

The onus of taking breaks for the passengers to have breakfast and relieve themselves is on the driver, observed the forum.

The travel firm did not choose to represent its version of the case, virtually meaning that they were at fault.
The forum took a strict view of the negligence caused by the firm as it found a deficiency in service.

Considering the delay, “he (bus driver) could have taken the passengers to some good hotel on their way for breakfast/tea/toilet facilities etc which was absolutely under his control. The opposite party is a reputed tours & travels ‘operator’ who maintains AC sleeper bus with LED TV and so on but failed to show any personal care to the passengers/complainant,” the order copy stated.