2. Business Statement and Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:37 pm on 25 January 2022.

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Photo of Delyth Jewell Delyth Jewell Plaid Cymru 2:37, 25 January 2022

I'd like a statement about ensuring women's safety on public transport, please. My colleague Peredur Owen Griffiths and I have been dealing with the case of a woman in her late 70s who tried to get on a Stagecoach bus in Hay in late November. She was refused entry by an instructor, who told her that the service was only meant for students, even though the timetable didn't say that, and the woman in question had caught the same bus on countless previous occasions. The instructor slammed the door and drove off, leaving her on her own in the dark, in Hay, 30 miles from home. There is no taxi rank in Hay, and so she felt isolated and close to tears. The answers we've received from Stagecoach haven't been satisfactory. But this seems to speak to a wider issue. There have been cases related on social media recently of women across the UK being left stranded at bus stops, after running to get the last bus, within full sight of the driver, who's then driven off. So, I'd like a statement, please, from the Welsh Government, indicating what mandatory training could be made available as a requirement for those working on public transport about the vital role they have in helping secure women's safety.