A Bus Driver Called The Cops On A Woman That Tried To Pay The Fare In Pennies

Metro- A bus driver called the police on a passenger who tried to pay with pennies.

Laura Pulley, 35, was left stunned when her driver wouldn’t accept her 60p fare because 25p of it was made up in one and two pence coins.

When the mum-of-two refused to leave the bus, which was on Canvey Island, Essex, the police were called to diffuse the bizarre situation.

Laura said: ‘It was the most surreal experience of my life and I can’t believe it happened.

‘He watched me count the exact money out, then he expected me and my daughter to get off the bus.’

Strangely, by law, the driver was completely within his rights to reject the coppers.

The Coinage Act of 1971 rules that people can refuse any payment above 20p paid in bronze coins because it doesn’t strictly qualify as legal tender. Who knew?


There are moments in everyone's day-to-day life where they realize they hate what they are doing. The biggest hurdle throughout the day is avoiding those moments. To drive a bus as a profession you already have to put up with a lot of shit you would rather not put up with. However, someone taking 5 minutes to pay fare may be the end all, be all. Yeah, technically pennies are a form of money, but I have no problem with a bus driver rejecting them as such. Mass transit is supposed to make everyone's life convenient and counting to 60 one coin at a time couldn't be further from that goal. This isn't an elderly woman that has an excuse to be carrying around a socially unacceptable amount of change. This is a 35 year old. If you are a working class individual that has to pay the bus fare in pennies then you are too poor to ride the bus, regardless of your financial standing. This woman may think it's ridiculous that her poor person tokens aren't being accepted as currency, but there is a reason the law exists. It's so that people save their pennies for where they belong, wishing wells and change counters. In all honestly, this woman is lucky her child was there so she didn't get kicked down the stairs to the curb and left in the dust. You don't push a bus driver over the edge, because he's been standing on it since the first stop of his shift.