14 DAY TRIAL // An ad prompted a delay in the schedule of the Rotherham-Sheffield bus in the UK, as passengers waited for 20 minutes for their driver to get over the message.
The Stonewall group, who paid for the ad, certainly does not shy away from making bold public statements.
“Some people are gay. Get over it!,” the tagline reads. As it turns out, some people cannot get over it.
The driver, whose name has not been released to the press, motivated his actions by explaining he is a Christian, while he argued with passengers and a replacement was called in to take over his route.
“Once the driver had let us on the bus, he was meant to be swapping with another driver, but when his replacement wouldn’t get on they just left us there while they had an argument outside,” a passenger says.
Bus operating company First Group were alerted about the effects of the marketing campaign, and explained they had “spoken to the driver” who protested against it.
“We are aware of an incident involving one of our drivers refusing to drive a bus at Rotherham Interchange.
“We have spoken to the driver in question and the matter has now been resolved. We would like to apologize to any customers that were affected during this isolated incident,” a spokesperson says.
The Daily Mail quotes witness Rebecca, who was headed for Sheffield, as she makes a thought-provoking remark:
“He’s a bus driver — he’s going to come across all sorts of people. Does he seriously think he has never had a gay person on his bus?,” she says.
Earlier this month, gay rights activists at Stonewall faced public scrutiny for awarding Cardinal Keith O'Brien, a head of the Scottish Catholic Church, the title of “Bigot of the Year.”