A PENSIONER was made to pay £1.20 on the bus into town on Good Friday – despite free bus and train travel for over-60s across West Yorkshire.
Geoffrey Hodgson, from Moldgreen, was told by a First Group bus driver on the 370 service that he had to pay the full fare into town.
But Mr Hodgson, 80, knew from his Metro Holiday Travel guide he was entitled to travel for free using his senior citizen’s pass on bank holidays, including Good Friday, April 2.
Mr Hodgson, who used to be a trolley bus driver, said: “I showed the driver a copy of the Metro travel agreements for Easter and he said that he got his instructions from First Bus, not Metro. So I had to pay £1.20.”
Mr Hodgson was travelling on to Leeds and was able to get on a train to the city for free with no fuss.
He was also able to travel without paying on buses in Leeds using his pass.
Mr Hodgson told the Examiner: “I just want a little bit of confirmation that what happened was wrong.
“I heard other people coming up against the same problem that day.
“The bus drivers should have been informed.”
A spokesman for First Bus said: “We would like to apologise to this gentleman because his travel into Huddersfield should have been free on a bank holiday with a senior travel pass.
“We will be speaking to our drivers to clarify the situation with them and make certain this doesn’t happen ever again.”
