Girona - Sixty-two tourists were en route from London to Spain Sunday, when they were left stranded in Girona for seven hours after their driver was arrested. He was accused of falsifying his travel documents, which meant he was not allowed to carry passengers.
Passengers on the UK cheap bus service Megabus went through quite the ordeal, having to stay overnight in Girona while traveling from London to Barcelona via France.
According to the Catalonia police, the Mossos d'Esquadra, they were carrying out a routine check at Maçanet de la Selva close to Girona on the AP-7 motorway. Officials say the British driver of the bus had falsified the travel documents he needed by law to carry passengers and they arrested him.
Megabus released a statement denying this, and told The Local: "Our driver had the correct documentation and identification for his journey and was well within his legal driving hours. There appears to have been a technical issue with the way the journey was being recorded."
Due to the incident, the passengers were left at a service station, because police officers allegedly blocked access to any alternative means of transport. An official statement from Megabus said that they arranged for replacement vehicles with a Spanish coach operator, to allow the tourists to continue on their journey, adding, "However we are concerned that local Spanish police prevented passengers from using these vehicles, resulting in a significant and unnecessary delay to their journey."
As the passengers could not utilize another form of transport they had to find their own accommodation for the night. However, Megabus has agreed to pay this expense, saying, "Our team kept in touch with passengers by email throughout the night and attempted to find accommodation for them which unfortunately was not possible."
"We advised that we would cover all costs for passengers who made their own arrangements for onward travel. We will also be issuing a full refund and providing complimentary return travel for all customers affected," the statement continued.
"We will be raising concerns with the appropriate authorities in Spain about how this situation was handled and the impact on our customers using this service."
The Megabus transport service offers larger coaches than the usual and carries 72 passengers as opposed to the normal 50. Apparently the transport service offers a limited number of seats for as little as 2 ($2.68) with the balance priced according to demand.
Megabus is part of the multinational transport company Stagecoach Group and opened in 2003 in the UK; in 2006 it expanded its services to North America and in 2012, added destinations in continental Europe.
