KEY POINTS:
A simple bus trip home turned into a nightmare for a heavily pregnant woman and her toddler son when the bus took off with her son but without her.
Ariella Lee wants the driver of the bus off the road for good after the incident which left her angry and her son scared of buses.
She and Jarell, two, were the only passengers waiting at a bus stop at the Westfield Mall in south Auckland last week for the bus to Manurewa.
The bus arrived and as Ms Lee, 22, folded his trundler Jarell bounced up the steps and gave the driver the $3.20 fare, the Manukau Courier reports.
However, before she could board the bus the driver closed the door and took off with Ms Lee running alongside banging on the door, screaming at him to stop.
The six-months pregnant daycare worker chased the bus 40 metres before it stopped, the door opened, the frightened toddler got out and the bus took off again.
With her toddler under her arm she chased the bus again until it stopped and she remonstrated with the driver.
"I said: 'Are you mental? You drove off with my son'," she said.
She said the driver looked at her as if he was angry with her, closed the door and took off again.
Ms Lee spent $18 on a taxi home because Jarell began screaming when she tried to board the next bus. The next morning when she tried to get on a bus for his daycare centre, Jarell screamed again and it took 30 minutes to calm him down.
She complained to Stagecoach and was promised disciplinary action.
Northern region general manager Warren Fowler said such behaviour by drivers was "totally unacceptable" and some compensation would be offered.
- NZPA
