Passengers angry after bus driver refused to let them off

BOSTON -- A bus driver is under investigation after he allegedly refused to allow passengers to get off of the bus.

Neil Bryant, a Peter Pan bus driver, admits that he was angry after a passenger reportedly contacted the bus company alleging that the he was swerving.

Bryant stopped the bus in Framingham, which arrived early because Bryant drove past a rest stop along the route from New York to Boston, and did not allow the passengers off of the bus until 5 p.m.

“The worst part about it was that he was just standing up there, like looking at us, like as if we were in the wrong, we had done something bad, which we had not” Brian Moore, passenger, said.

Bryant claims that he told passengers that they couldn’t leave because of the schedule. He says that company policy dictates that passengers are to remain onboard of the bus while waiting for new passengers. A spokesman for Peter Pan Bus Lines told 7News that Bryant could have driven to Boston without waiting.

“He said that he wasn’t punishing us, but he clearly was,” Moore said. “He said, ‘since you’ve aggravated me, I’m going to aggravate you.’”

“It was only three people, everybody else understood,” Bryant said. “There was only three people on the bus that was making a big fuss.”

Bryant has a hearing at South Station on Monday to determine his future with the company.

(Copyright (c) 2007 Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)