Bus drivers not accepting notes!?

If you are in the UK most buses require you to pay with the exact fare and drivers do not carry change.

I think they can't take paper money because they don't have the time and facility to make sure it isn't fake.

Let's say 15 people wanting to get a £1.20 ticket with a tenner. The driver would run out of float by the third passenger (who would moan that his change is only in 20pennys). The remaining 12 would start to shout that they want to get on too (but without ticket they can't).

The remaining 60 people on the bus gets annoyed that the bus is going nowhere.

The driver can't carry £££ on him, because someone may try to rob him. These are risks the bus company cannot take.

I am sure the company explains its drivers very thoroughly how to deal with customers (i have to laugh here!), but dealing with the public isn't that easy!!

There was a good change that he actually didnt have any change. What he should have done was let you on, and then taken the fair at the end of the journey when he had more change.

If it was a town/city service then it would have been exact change only, as they drivers dont have access to the money.

I got the bus recently and I had no change. I paid £1.80 with a £10 note, I was extremely embarrassed. I certainly would not have criticised the driver if he had said he had no change. What is it that everyone has 'rights'. The driver also has his 'rights' and he has the right to stop you boarding his bus.

no you dont have the right toboard the bus if you are not willing to pay the right money,if you know the fair is going to be 1.20 then if it was me i would have 1 20 in change .the bus driver as the right to stop anybody he lwants from getting on his bus if he feels you are going to cause a problem

most bus drivers have change but,i guess your DRIVER did not have enough change to sort your 10note out....

Our buses are exact fare only, however, you can pay with a £10 and get a change voucher from the driver. This very rarely happens, as the drivers tend to let the person go for one stop while they try to get change from the other passengers.

And they wonder why we all drive cars and shun public transport- (apart from all the smelly masturbating old men that public transport seems to attract). I refuse to use buses. In Italy their system is just as stupid- if not more so- you have to buy a ticket from the newsagents- which is ok unless you want to travel between 1pm and 4pm as they are shut and there is nowhere else you can get them and the bus driver isn't allowed to speak to you either!

He's not refusing your $10. He's refusing to make change. You could (theoretically) pay with your $10, but you would be down $8.80.

Bus fares are $0.75 here. If you pay with $1, that's all fine and good, but the driver won't (and can't) make change, as all the money is in the little lockbox.

Here in Australia they ask you to carry small note or change while traveling...u mite've just had a grumpy driver...normally they dont make a issue out of it and jus give u heaps of change..so next time one makes sure to get on a bus with bit of change in the pocket...they surely teach u a lesson...lol

A very good question. It is clear LACK of a old concept called customer service, used regulary in most countries around the world, but something that has long deserted the sinking ship HMS United Kingdom. You clearly had the money to take the journey, but due to the level of incompetancy in today's service industries of the UK (sorry to generalist here) the customer has become just a money machine.

There is no law that protects you in this case. You can try complaining to the head of the bus company, but they will just fob you off!

Read the tenner to see if it has the words "Legal Tender".

That means that is acceptable money ... coins don't have that, so you were "legally" alright.

If it happens again, tell him you'll sit near the front of the bus until he has change and then you'll pay him.