Backpacker Left Stranded in Outback SA After Greyhound Bus Departs Without Her

A British backpacker was left stranded at a remote roadhouse in South Australia after her Greyhound bus departed without her during a scheduled stop.

Emma, who had been travelling in Australia since late August, boarded the bus at Alice Springs on September 5, heading towards Adelaide. The bus stopped at Pimba at around midnight due to a malfunctioning onboard bathroom, and the driver extended the stop to 25 minutes.

“He said he’s going to … add an extra five minutes onto what would have been a 20-minute stop at Pimba,” Emma said. “There’s a queue to get into the loos, of course, so I queue, and I wait, and then I get in there, use the loo, brush my teeth.”

Emma said about 15 minutes had passed from when the bus pulled in to when she exited the toilet, leaving her about 10 minutes to return to her seat.

“I leave and the bus isn’t there,” she said.

Emma was left alone at the truck stop toilets, near a service station that was shut at that time of night, in a remote area surrounded by desert and scrub.

“It was four degrees [Celsius] that night, I found out later,” Emma said. “I had my little rucksack, a little bit of water, no food, didn’t have my passport, didn’t have anything. Most of my stuff was still on the bus.”

She rang Greyhound for help, but they did not answer. Emma then called Triple Zero (000) for assistance.

Eventually, a police vehicle carrying out a custody transfer from Roxby Downs to Port Augusta picked her up at around 2:30am.

“It was so nice to be warm and safe, because by 2:30, I’d been out there for nearly three hours,” she said. “I’m standing in the toilet block because it’s slightly sheltered and therefore about a couple of degrees warmer than the rest of the place.”

Greyhound Australia confirmed that the passenger did not return to the bus in Pimba. The tourist collected most of her belongings, except for one bag, at Port Augusta after local police liaised with Greyhound.

She then booked a regional bus through a different company to get to Adelaide.

“I went to considerable extra expense because I had to buy a hotel and breakfast and food, and another bus to Adelaide because they [Greyhound] didn’t take me to Adelaide the way they were supposed to,” she said. “I’d probably want my ticket back and a bit of compensation as well because you don’t endanger your passengers like that.”

Emma’s backpack was meant to be left for collection at Adelaide’s Central Bus Station; however, she said the bag was dropped off at another location outside of the CBD.

“Then started a lovely five-hour adventure trying to extract it [the backpack] from them,” she said.

Emma made a complaint to Greyhound Australia following the incident and received an emailed response from the company.

In a statement, Greyhound Australia said its investigation into the incident was ongoing, but confirmed a passenger “did not return to the coach following a scheduled comfort stop at Pimba”.

After receiving notification of the incident, Greyhound Australia said it “worked with police to locate the passenger and assist them to a place of safety”.

The company said it provided “24/7 customer support” through 1300 GREYHOUND with “an out-of-hours emergency service available” for urgent travel-related matters.

“We have not identified any issues indicating the emergency service was unavailable during the period in question,” the spokesperson said. “The safety and wellbeing of our passengers remains our highest priority.”

“While our review remains ongoing, it would be inappropriate for Greyhound to comment on individual allegations or unverified claims relating to operational matters that are still being investigated.”

Greyhound said its Adelaide-based supervisor was at the depot for about 90 minutes with the passenger’s luggage, but when she did not arrive, the bag was arranged to be transferred on a subsequent service to her final destination.

Emma said having backpacked on buses around the world, her experience in Australia left much to be desired.

“The quality and feel of safety is about the standard that I met in Bolivia, which had some pretty old and pretty knackered buses,” she said.