Deranged man drives PTSC bus

“Amazing!” That is the only way to describe the situation in which a handyman in Scarborough who does not have a Driver’s Permit was able to drive a Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) bus full of passengers to L’Anse Fourmi on Tobago’s far northern end on Carnival Tuesday afternoon.

Even more amazing is the fact that up to Friday no charges were laid against the man —  after police were called in and he was interrogated and subsequently taken away from the PTSC compound in a police vehicle. And what puts the whole escapade beyond imagination, was that up to Friday afternoon the well-dressed man was again on the PTSC compound where he was seen in an area normally occupied by the bus drivers. It all began on Tuesday afternoon, when the man, in similar manner as bonafide PTSC bus drivers, entered a passenger-laden bus destined for L’Anse Fourmi and simply drove the bus out of the temporary bus terminal near the TIDCO Mall at Sangster’s Hill in lower Scarborough.  None of the passengers realised that the man driving them home was not a bus driver or even that he did not have a Driver’s Permit.

According to PTSC sources, several of the passengers did not have the required pre-paid tickets and gave the man the equivalent in cash, and when he returned from the L’Anse Fourmi trip, he duly bought these tickets and tore them in half as usually happens when commuters board a bus. The next day, Ash Wednesday, the now neatly-attired man returned to the PTSC compound just after 8 am. He was spotted by a PTSC worker who had recognised him from the previous day. The despatcher was alerted and the man was escorted into an enclosed room, while the police were alerted. When questioned, the man said he had always wanted to be a bus driver.