hlinda0
04-22-2008, 10:40 PM
:mad:I bought a round trip ticket on carolina trailways for myself and my adult autistic son. We live in South Carolina and was visiting my daughter in Virginia Beach Va. On the return trip. The bus driver was lost and did not know how to find the bus terminals in the different towns. He had to get directions form the passengers using thier cell phone and map quest. My destination was Summerville SC. My son and I needed to change buses in Charleston to get to Summerville. The driver arrived in Charleston at 11:30 p.m two hours behind schedule. He told any passengers that was going on to Summerville that we had to get off the bus in Charleston. There was other passengers getting off in Charlestom but my son and I was the only passengers going on to Summerville. I ask the driver if another bus was coming to take me and my son to Summerville. He ask the two men that was removing the luggage from the bottom of the bus if another bus was coming to take us to Summerville. The luggage handler said that there was no more bus coming that night heading to Summerville and that my son and I would have to take a cab. I told the driver that I did not have a dime left in my pocket. It was a 17 hour bus ride and I had spent all of my money on food for me and my son. The driver told me that he could not help me and that my son and I had to get off the bus because his bus was going to Savahanna Ga. We exited the bus and the driver pulled away quickly. The other passengers that got off with me and my son had thier ride waiting for them and they were gone. I walk toward the door of the bus terminal and met two men coming out of the door. I reached for the door and one of the men said. " ma'am you can't go in there we are closed" I told him that my son and I was stranded and I needed to go in and use the phone. He pointed to a phone booth outside locked the door and drove away leaving me and my son standing in the cold and stranded. There was only three of us standing there. Me my son and another man who I thought got off the bus. That is until he began to beg me for money saying that he and his wife was sleeping in a tent and had not eaten in four days. I told the man that I did not have any money and walked over to the phone booth only to find a coin stuck in the slot and I could not use the phone. I was terrified. I had a ticket to get to my destination. I did nothing wrong. Because the driver was late getting me to the bus station my son and I was treated like stay dogs and trown off the bus in the middle of a cold night and left to fend for ourtselves with a homeless begger walking around and around me asking for money. It was 12:30 a.m and I had to do something to get my autistic son home. There was a store across the street from the bus station but the homeless man was still there and I was afraid to leave all of my luggage there to go look for a phone. I just said forget about the luggage I had to get myself and my son to safty. We ran across that busy highway got to the store and ask a customer if he had a cell phone that I could use. He did and I call for my brother to come for us. It took another 45 minutes befor my brother could get there. My question is. My son and I was treated like dogs and this cannot happen to another woman and a vulnerable person with a disability. Do I have a case against Carolina Trailways. This happened to us march 24 2008 and I still have nightmares.