I had intended to say no more on this matter but seems as though the thread is still going I wanted to clear a couple more things up. The thing I have found most distressing about this whole situation is that people are now talking about me and a story I didn't even want written. Anyone who knows me will know that I find confrontational situations difficult to deal with and this is totally out of my comfort zone.
I don't know where the misconception that I had wanted to buy a ticket from the coach driver has come from. That is a misunderstanding on the part of the reporter as far as I can tell. It was always my intention to speak to Mark from the travel club, not the driver. As for the excuse about it being for insurance purposes, I was told was by Martyn Starnes on Sunday evening that's not true. There is no issue with somebody paying on the day for insurance reasons.
Also, if you read my original post you will see I have said "I hoped" not "I assumed". There is a difference. Had I assumed that I could rock up on Saturday and pay for a coach ticket and expect there to be no problems, I wouldn't have pre-booked train and bus tickets. Yes, maybe I had expected that Mark would have been more helpful taking in to account our friendship spans more than 20 years and had the shoe been on the other foot I would like to think I would have done all I could to help out a friend in such circumstances but once it became apparent that the coach back wasn't an option, I accepted that I was to endure a nightmare journey and Mark and I parted on good terms as we always do. There was and still is no issues between us.
This has been totally blown out of all proportion. In hindsight, which is a wonderful thing, It was very reckless of me to travel, whether it had been by coach, train, accompanied or unaccompanied, so soon after having emergency surgery. I let me heart rule my head and I am paying for it now. A lesson has been learnt and I won't be making the same mistake again when I undergo more major surgery in the coming weeks.
This unnecessary fuss has been created by my dad (although I am led to believe he wasn't the only person to contact the Herald), a man who is accustomed to being in positions of authority and things being done on his terms, overreacting out of concern for his daughter. Unlike me, he had made the assumption that I would just turn up on Saturday and be allowed on the coach and he was angry that his expectations were not met. From my point of view the club are dealing with what went wrong at their end, the travel club had no obligation to accommodate me on the day and I am satisfied with the outcome.
So to conclude, I agree with the post by Ghost I am not blameless. Is it my fault calls were not returned? no, is it my fault common sense wasn't used when there were spare seats and apparently no obvious reason why cash couldn't be accepted on the day? no. Is it my fault this has been become an unnecessary shambles? Yes, absolutely. Had I made a more sensible decision and stayed home and rested, my family wouldn't have been put in a position where out of concern for my safety and wellbeing they felt the need to make an issue out of something that to me wasn't a big deal. For that i do take the blame.
