A WOMAN was ordered off a bus because she was carrying a dangerous item - a can of paint.
Barbara Bell, 60, of Navigation Road, Thornhill Lees, had bought the blue paint to decorate her spare bedroom.
But when she got on the 282 bus from Dewsbury she was told she had to get off.
The driver told Mrs Bell the paint was flammable and highly dangerous and she would not be able to pay her 30p fare and travel home.
Instead, the grandmother of three had to get a taxi costing her £3.70.
Her husband Allan, 59, said he was astonished that paint could be considered dangerous.
"How on earth can anyone decide that having paint on a bus puts anybody at risk?" he said.
"My wife was very embarrassed by the whole thing.
"I was furious. What harm can paint do? If it had been a 6ft plank of wood I would have understood. But this is just madness.
"People get on with bags and they could have knives or guns in them.
"My wife gets on with a harmless can of paint and is told to get off.
"Some of the other passengers told her to put it in her bag, but the driver had already seen it by then so it was too late."
A spokesman for Arriva Yorkshire defended the driver's decision to tell Mrs Bell to get off the bus.
He said: "Customers should be aware that there are statutory conduct of passengers regulations that they must comply with when travelling on any operator's buses.
"Under these regulations, customers should not carry hazardous articles on to the vehicles.
"We have identified that cans of paint are a safety risk, whether flammable or not.
"Arriva places safety at the heart of everything we do and the company's UK Bus division was recently recognised by Brake, the road safety charity, with the award for best risk-managed company in the UK.
"We apologise if this customer feels our driver did not explain the situation clearly.
"However, we would ask people to recognise that the decision to refuse travel was made solely on the grounds of safety," the spokesman added.
