TTC driver refused to help lost child, says mother
A TTC streetcar driver allegedly refused to help an eight-year-old boy who got lost while on a field trip yesterday, according to the boy and his mother.
Josh Parker was riding the Queen Street streetcar with eight other students and one adult on Monday when he and a friend somehow got separated from the group.
"I just totally panicked. I stood up and was, like, whoa, I’m lost," he told CBC News.
Josh did what he’d been taught at home and at school — find "the big authority person" — and ask for help. He told the streetcar driver he was lost and needed to call 911.
The driver allegedly refused to help.
"He was, like, ‘Sorry kid I can’t stop the streetcar. Ask to borrow someone else's phone,’" said Josh.
He did and called his mom. She asked Josh to put the driver on but he refused again.
Josh notes that “kind of upset” his mother.
"The idea … that I’m sitting home at home, beside myself, and he’s not even willing to tell me where my kid is — it’s unbelievable," said Mary Ellen Boyce.
"It was such a traumatic situation … that your kid is somewhere and you can’t get to him," she added.
Josh and his friend were eventually picked up by his dad. Both made it home safe.
The TTC says it is interviewing the driver and conducting a full investigation.
