A group of Sir Paul McCartney fans from Dundee were nearly left waiting in the wings after a trip to see the former Beatle perform in Glasgow turned into a magical mystery tour.
Not only did bus company Citylink fail to send a bus to take them to the concert last Sunday afternoon despite each paying £24 for a ticket they were stranded in Glasgow and needed help to get home after the show.
The foursome’s long and winding road to the national stadium rock show began at Seagate bus station in Dundee on Sunday when their coach, which had been scheduled to pick them up at four o’clock, failed to appear.
“We were supposed to leave at four o’clock and told to make sure we were at the bus station 10 minutes before that,” said Lilian Gibson, one of the four stranded customers.
“We had booked the tickets through Travel Dundee for Citylink. But by 4.15 there was still no bus, even though it said on the board that the 808 was going to Hampden.
“Luckily, there was a Megabus that came in and we were told to get on to Buchanan Street in Glasgow and that Citylink would make sure we got to Hampden from there.”
Things appeared to be getting better for the day trippers once they got on the way.
“Lo and behold, when we reached the park and ride in Perth there was a Citylink bus sitting there that took us to Hampden or as far as the Asda across the road anyway,” continued Lilian.
“When we got off, the driver told us to ask a policeman after the concert where the coach park was and we would get picked up there.”
However, once the concert ended it soon became apparent their plans to get home were not going to get off the ground.
“There was just no bus there and no one had seen a Citylink coach either,” said Lilian.Get back”We were able to get on another bus back to Dundee but it was full and some of us had to sit on the floor.”
Lilian expressed her gratitude to the driver who let them on to the bus back to get back to Dundee, but she said too many people had been let down by Citylink.
“There were 16 other people who had got on the bus through that were just left stranded though,” she added.
“There was a woman who was picked up in Stirling who had to walk with a stick she was just standing there in the car park when we were pulling away.
“It was about quarter past two in the morning when we got home but the fact is that we were totally abandoned.”
However, Lilian said their travel nightmare had not been enough to spoil a great day out.
“He was absolutely fabulous it was worth it,” she said.
Yesterday, a spokesman from Citylink said, “A technical fault resulted in delays for passengers travelling on our Dundee to Glasgow service for the Paul McCartney concert. This was unfortunate and we are sorry for the inconvenience.
“Once at Hampden, all passengers were informed where the pick-up point would be after the show and we made great efforts to ensure everyone made it back to the coach.
“Citylink will offer full refunds to those passengers who we recorded as non-arrivals and did not travel.”