MICHAEL and JANE DELLER, of Winterbourne Abbas, Dorset, write: My wife and I have just returned from a two-night visit to the South Hams area. The host at our accommodation suggested that, with little time on our hands, we should consider the Round Robin boat and steam train trip from Dart­mouth as an ideal way of exploring the area. With this decision made, we set off for Dartmouth on Wednes­day morning, April 29. We located the ferry kiosks, but learnt that the only real option for all-day parking was to use the park and ride. Time was against us to catch the 10.30am boat, but we were advised that there was enough time to use the park and ride to return and cross over the Dart by 11am in time to catch a steam train from Kingswear, thus doing the trip in reverse. On arrival at the park and ride, we had a chat with a very pleasant chap emptying the ticket machine by the stop. Shortly after 10.40am, with the bus approaching, I attempted to purchase our ticket. However, I was surprised to find that the machine, emptied just minutes before, was displaying a 'not in service' notice. The bus drew up and I told the driver the situation and asked if it was possible to pay him directly. He said no, I could either use my mobile or go to the second pay machine across the car park. Not wishing to delay him, I quickly ran to the machine, inserted the coins and pressed for the ticket. At this point, my wife called out that the bus was leaving. The driver had announced that he couldn't wait as he had other pick-ups to do, despite my wife pleading with him to wait as we would miss our connection. The driver appeared totally unconcerned, merely saying we would have to wait his return after which he closed his doors and drove off. I was astonished. The driver had directed me to the second machine while giving no indication he wasn't prepared to wait. It was a quiet day and the bus arrived and left without passengers. We were the only two wishing to use the service at that time. With the bus gone, we had no chance of getting back to the quay in time and our plans for the day stood in tatters. I was left angry beyond words and my wife close to tears. As I understand it, this is not a scheduled operation and the driver had he wished to could surely have waited a further 30 seconds. If there'd been more passengers it would have taken at least that long for them to board. As it was, we'd purchased a £5 ticket we had no need for and the Dartmouth Steam Railway and River Boat Comp­any was deprived of almost £50 revenue. Such treatment as we received at the hands of the driver was unacceptable. It reflected very badly on Dartmouth and did the local tourism industry no favours whatsoever.