A young woman with diabetes found herself locked inside a FlixBus below-deck on a ferry, leading her to send distress messages to her family. Amal Said embarked on a journey from London to visit relatives in Paris on August 10. After passing through passport control, she fell asleep assuming the bus driver would wake her upon reaching the ferry.
Upon awakening, Amal was shocked to discover she was alone on the bus on the fifth deck of the ferry, 30 minutes after it had set sail. In a video that garnered over two million views, she can be seen crying and screaming as she realizes her predicament. As a person with Type 1 Diabetes, she became anxious about her dropping blood sugar levels as there was no food on the bus.
After an hour and a half, a crew member finally noticed Amal and informed the driver to release her. However, the driver allegedly blamed her for being locked in due to falling asleep. Despite lodging a complaint with FlixBus the next day, requesting a refund and compensation for the distress caused, her plea was rejected citing that she had completed her journey.
Amal, a resident of Richmond, South West London, expressed her ordeal, stating that she missed her family in Paris and didn’t have adequate food supplies to manage her diabetes during the incident. FlixBus later issued an apology, stating that they are implementing additional measures with their operating partner to prevent similar incidents in the future. They also offered Amal a full refund as a gesture of goodwill.
