Norwich man offered free theatre tickets after buses cancel

Gary Hatt, 61, from Costessey, is partially sighted and has a companion bus pass for him and his mother Vera Thorndike, 85.

The pair were looking forward to seeing The Ocean At The End Of The Lane at the Theatre Royal, but missed the show after three buses failed to turn up.

Mr Hatt was unable to get a refund on his tickets as the performance had not sold out therefore losing out on £42.50 after three First 23A services were taken off the road before reaching Longwater Lane, where the pair were waiting.

After raising the issue with First, Mr Hatt received an apology email offering him two free Norwich M-Tickets, which last a day, but these are of no use to him as he already has free 24-hour travel with his current pass.

Gary Hatt and his mother (Image: Gary Hatt)

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However, the bus company quickly realised their error and decided to make it up to him with £50 worth of theatre vouchers.

A First Bus spokeswoman said: "We have sent Mr Hatt £50 of theatre vouchers and we once again apologise for the issues he experienced with the service on September 9, offering a good service is always our number one priority.”

Mr Hatt had previously hit out at the operator saying the inconsistent service was becoming the normal in Costessey.

First Norwich has offered Mr Hatt, who holds a bus pass, a pair of free tickets (Image: Denise Bradley)

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He said: "I wanted the money back, but with the service, this is a regular occurrence around here, something needs to be done.

"Sometimes we have no buses turning up at all, other times we have two coming together without warning and creating a massive gap in the service.

"If this carries on people will become very isolated and lonely, my companion bus pass is basically useless if the buses don't turn up."