Ticket refund: Daewoo Express GM summoned

Notice issued in response to a petition seeking damages for a ticketing mishap.

LAHORE: The Lahore Consumer Court on Saturday issued notice to the general manager of Daewoo Express, an inter-city transport company, for February 3 in response to a petition seeking damages for a ticketing mishap.

Complainant Zahid Habib said in his petition that on November 25, his son Aleem went to the Daewoo office at Kalma Chowk and reserved two seats (numbers 12 and 19) for Karachi for November 27. He said that when his son went to get the seats confirmed, a female official of the company issued tickets for seats number 7 and 19, the latter ticket also bearing the name of another passenger, a Muhammad Saleem.Habib said that when his son objected, the female staffer crossed out the name and wrote in ‘Aleem’ with a pen, and assured him that this would not cause him any trouble.

He said on November 27, when his son and his friend sat on their seats, another passenger came by with a ticket for the seat. Daewoo staff checked Zahid’s ticket and found it to be for the November 26 bus. They were both taken off the bus. He said that his son and his friend registered a complaint at the booking office seeking a return of the money, but their request was denied.

The complainant asked the court to order the company to pay Rs2,450, the cost of the tickets, plus the cost of the alternative arrangements made to transport the two to Karachi on November 27, as well as damages for the “mental torture” and inconvenience suffered.

Shehzad, junior executive for terminals at Daewoo, said that it was the passengers’ responsibility to check their tickets before leaving the counter. He said that Aleem should have demanded a digital printout for the ticket and refused to accept a ticket which had someone else’s name on it. “If you are a passenger wanting a ticket to Islamabad but the staffer gives you a ticket to Sargodha, would you go to Sargodha at Daewoo’s request?”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 9^th, 2011.