By Kim O'Leary
A Naas mother has said that she and her young 11-year-old son were left "shaken and upset" after they got off a Dublin Coach double decker bus on Friday night to retrieve their luggage from the luggage hold when the driver suddenly 'accelerated and drove off'-with the boy still in the luggage hold at the time.
Speaking to KildareNow about the alleged incident, the concerned mother said: "At 8.30pm on Friday night (August 10) my son and I got off a double decker bus at the fire station stop in Naas coming from Newbridge. My son had to step into the luggage hold to pick up a piece of furniture he had stored there while I held the door open. The driver accelerated and drove off, and my son was still in the luggage hold and I was holding onto the door running alongside the bus until I was pulled off my feet."
She continued: "Thanks to some good Samaritans, that included a couple passing by and a tall red headed girl who got off at the same stop as us, the bus pulled in after a few meters. Both my son and I were understandably upset and shaken. The driver basically shrugged his shoulders and said ' I didn't see him'".
The woman said that she and her son were miraculously unhurt, and that after the incident she contacted the Kildare-based bus company Dublin Coach to lodge a complaint. The company offered her an apology although in order to further her complaint and to correctly identify the bus driver involved in the incident she was told that they require her bus ticket or the bus's registration number.
Unfortunately, the woman has said that she did not retain her ticket and that she did not get the driver's name or bus registration details.
She said: "Now,thankfully, I don't have any experience with almost being run over while trying to rescue my son from the luggage hold of a moving bus and am not familiar with the necessary etiquette. I didn't hold on to my ticket and I didn't get the driver's name and reg - I was busy consoling my hysterical child."
Meanwhile, the woman wants is appealing to other members of the public to help her find the 'lovely people who helped us' to thank them for their assistance, while also appealing for anyone who may have witnessed the incident and possibly have gotten the bus registration to come forward.
Dublin Coach has been contacted by KildareNow for a statement in relation to this alleged incident and they have not yet responded at the time of writing.
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