“I just got a call from some random lady and she said, ‘I got your daughters, they’re at the bus stop in Manukau’.”
Unaccompanied minors Brielle and Livy Owen were left stranded in South Auckland after a seven-hour bus journey meant to end near Sky City in Auckland City.
“And [my daughters] were like, ‘We’re lost, Mum,’ they were crying and I was like, ‘What the heck?’.”
The girls were supposed to exit the bus near Sky City in Auckland City, but were given their luggage in the south of the city.
“The driver said they were in Auckland, and then the girls have said they went … downstairs and … asked the driver, ‘Is this where we get off?’. And he said, ‘Auckland, yep, which one’s your bags?’.”
Alberino was “furious” as she claimed InterCity didn’t initially acknowledge the mistake.
“They [the girls] had no idea where they were, they had no idea what to do, their phones were flat, if they didn’t even know my phone number, what would they have done?”
Erin Alberino’s daughters were supposed to be dropped off near Sky City in central Auckland but were instead stranded in Manukau. Photo / Michael Craig
A spokesperson for Entrada, InterCity’s parent company, told the Herald the safety of unaccompanied minors was of top priority and they were concerned to hear about the incident.
“We have been in contact with the family to apologise directly,” the spokesperson said.
“We are working with our team to understand exactly what occurred.”
The company was investigating and would take “any necessary steps to strengthen our processes once the review is complete”.
Alberino said her daughters are now safe with their father, but she won’t be sending them on a bus to Auckland again.