A journey on a bus to forget. Eleven passengers who took a Titsa bus in the city of Santa Cruz on Saturday, 27th July, to travel to the south of Tenerife had an unexpected experience: being trapped inside the vehicle.
Unfamiliarity with the route – some of the affected individuals are from Gran Canaria – led these people to not realize upon arriving at Los Cristianos that it was the final stop of the bus, so they did not disembark; and the driver also failed to notice them and left them locked inside.
According to F. P., the father of one of the affected individuals, upon reaching the final stop, the driver turned off the air conditioning and exited the vehicle without realizing that eleven people, including minors, were still inside trapped.
His daughter, in particular, had come to the island to attend a concert in Santa Cruz and decided to use public transport to travel to the south on Saturday. “At 14:00 hours, they took the bus and this happened when they arrived in the south,” he explains. Furthermore, he points out that upon realizing the situation, his daughter called Emergency Services, where they were informed that they would notify the company.
“25 minutes later, the driver returned to the bus” and noticed that there were people inside, clarifies F. P.
F. P. believes that the driver’s actions were “reckless” and states that there should be protocols requiring drivers to check the buses before locking them.
Internal Investigation
Once the company was informed by this newspaper of the incident, they launched an investigation, confirming what had happened. They clarify that at the initial stop of Los Cristianos, the driver got off without noticing the presence of users on the vehicle. This stop lasted about 15 minutes, according to the company’s data.
Titsa has announced that they will conduct an internal investigation and take measures to prevent a similar incident from happening again, emphasizing the need to be especially careful at final stops to avoid leaving people inside.
Furthermore, the company publicly apologizes to all those affected by this incident.
Images of the Moment
As seen in the images obtained by this newspaper, this incident caused confusion among the affected passengers, and some nervous laughter. “When the driver leaves you locked in the bus,” one of the occupants of the vehicle can be heard saying amidst laughter, while others comment “we’re going to scold this man” or “and he comes back at his leisure.” Undoubtedly, a bus trip they won’t forget.
