An Angus pensioner with angina pains was left struggling to get to a hospital appointment in Dundee after the Stagecoach X7 missed scheduled stops.
Barbara Barclay had to take her mum Florence to Dundee’s Royal Victoria Hospital during the cold snap when the pavements were covered in ice.
Florence, 75, had angina pains and needed to be seen by medical staff.
But Barbara, 55, said the bus didn’t serve the hospital as scheduled and the pair had to walk along the road in treacherous conditions.
“It was just atrocious. Absolutely atrocious,” said Barbara.
“We ended up walking on the road, because the pavements couldn’t be walked on.
“It was cold, and I was worried about her, the way she was.
“It tells you on the Stagecoach app that it’s meant to go past the Royal Victoria Hospital. But it didn’t.”
Stagecoach are now investigating the incident and have been in contact with Barbara.
X7 strikes again
The X7, which runs from Aberdeen to Perth Royal Infirmary, is a key service for people living in towns and villages along its route through Angus.
But it has come under fire after numerous cancellations. Stagecoach has blamed an industry-wide shortage of bus drivers for the poor performance of its services.
This time the X7 turned up when it should have.
But Barbara says it drove straight past the hospital without driving into the grounds as it was supposed to.
She said the walk was around 300 yards – too far for someone suffering angina pains when conditions under foot are dangerous.
“My mum suffers from angina and other illnesses. She cant walk far.
“We had to walk from the top of the cemetery right down to the bottom and up to the Royal Victoria Hospital.”
Marathon trip home
They tried to catch the X7 at around 1pm from the hospital as they made their way home.
But Barbara said the same happened again.
“We had to do that twice.
“The next bus back to Montrose was at 1pm, but it just drove right past the hospital.
“So we had to walk down the road again and get to the bus stop at the cemetery and get a bus to Arbroath.
“We had to get a bus from Arbroath to Montrose, and my dad met us in Montrose.”
A Stagecoach representative has since been in touch with Barbara to discuss what happened.
A Stagecoach East Scotland spokesperson said: “We were very sorry to hear about the difficulties faced by this customer and their mother due to the X7 not serving the Royal Victoria Hospital as planned.
“We’re currently investigating the circumstances involved, and apologise sincerely for the inconvenience and distress.”
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