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Regional | Business

Mokopuna safe despite abandonment on roadside

The whānau of an 11-year-old girl, who was ordered off a bus and left by herself in South Auckland late at night, will receive an apology from the bus company.

Happy and safe with whānau. Despite being dumped at night in South Auckland by a bus driver this week.

"I didn't imagine it dropping me off on a street that’s completely dark. When he left it was completely dark it was a little bit scary,” says Naked Bus passenger Tiffany Cave Phua.

Tiffany travelled from Rotorua to Auckland to visit family and to support a Starship Hospital fundraiser.

Tiffany’s grandfather Doug Healey says, "it’s a life it’s a child’s life. Not just pull over stop and kick them off. Turn around. But seriously an 11-year-old girl on a three-hour journey just been woken up you don't just kick them out.”

This is where Tiffany got off the bus at 8:45pm, 500m from her bus stop. It was dark, she had no bags and she was all alone.

Sheryll Otway the CEO of NakedBus.com told Te Kāea, "it doesn't matter she was dropped off on a dark street or a heavily lit street that driver should have continued his journey around a loop and dropped her off at the appropriate bus stop. The driver should have made sure that the guardian of that person was there and verified with the details that we have on the manifest.”

Tiffany was seated upstairs out of view from the driver.

Healey says, "In my world that is unacceptable the agreement was the minors travel unaccompanied they should be in the front near the driver so they can keep an eye on them at all times."

The CEO of Naked Bus agrees.

"It's something that we've got to seriously look at reserved seating for unaccompanied minors. We are at the moment going through our policies and processes we're starting to implement changes as we speak, and we will certainly try to minimise and eliminate these issues."

Despite the dire situation, her grandfather says she's well, "She’s in high spirits. And we're lucky that it isn’t another story that we're talking about.”

The bus company will apologise to the whānau next week.