ENNISKILLEN senior citizen, Albert Abraham, was forced to miss a hospital appointment last Thursday morning, denied access to a Translink bus because his concessionary pass had a small crack on it.

The 69-year-old had attempted to board the 10am bus from Enniskillen depot to South West Acute Hospital (SWAH) but was told his pass was invalid because of a crack across his picture on the card.

Angered by the way he was treated, Mr. Abraham walked straight to the Impartial Reporter office.

“Is Enniskillen a friendly tourist town if this is the way an old aged pensioner is treated?” he asked.

Explaining that he had been due to attend an appointment with his psychiatrist, Mr. Abraham said he was unable to get a lift over to the hospital.

“The bus pass is valid until June 2020 and I only wanted to go out to the hospital -- it wasn’t a big distance, but I was told, no.

“I told the clerk I had to get out to see the doctor -- I have to see the psychiatrist every three months. These meetings are important.

“But just because of a simple crack, they wouldn’t let me on.” Mr. Abraham said he made a complaint to the inspector at the depot.

“He said he was sorry.

“I’m living on my own. The only family I have is my mother who is 92 years of age. I find it hard enough to manage.

“The card must have cracked when it was in my wallet. But I had never been pulled up on it before,” Mr. Abraham insisted.

A spokeswoman for Translink said: “In order to claim a concessionary pass, a passenger must present a valid working pass to a driver.

“If a card is cracked or damaged it cannot be read by our ticket machines, therefore is invalid.

“A replacement card can be procured by speaking to any employee at the Enniskillen depot.

“The process has been agreed with the Department of Regional Development (DRD) on whose behalf we operate the concessionary pass system.”