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A young woman travelling alone at night was told she wouldn’t be allowed to get on a bus because her fried chicken would ‘stink it out’.

The driver challenged Grace Edun as she stepped onto the N53 at Woolwich Station in southeast London, telling her she would have to bin the wings or be left waiting there in the dark.

Grace, 23, said she was worried about her safety on the 40-minute journey home to Bermondsey after midnight on April 12.

She also described how the stand-off left her feeling humiliated as other passengers stared at her eating.

The row was captured on the double decker’s CCTV, showing the driver refusing to budge while Grace was onboard. Other passengers sided with her and told him to carry on with the journey.

She has demanded an apology from Stagecoach who run the N53 route for Transport for London.

The company’s policy on eating on buses states food is only prohibited if it causes ‘offence’ or ‘upset’ to other passengers.

Grace said: ‘I was travelling on my own. It was at night and I thought I’d be forced off the bus.

‘It can be quite scary at night and I’d have had to wait for another bus on my own.’

She added: ‘I could not believe it. I thought it was a joke.’

The CCTV footage shows her getting on at 12:06am.

The driver bangs on the screen to get her attention as she walks on said: ‘Oi sweetheart, you can’t come on with that food.’

A shocked Grace can be heard replying: ‘I can’t come on with food?’

He added: ‘You can’t come on with fried chicken like that love.’

Grace replied: ‘What? When was that a rule?’

The driver repeated himself saying: ‘You can’t come on with open food like that. Get outside or get rid of it.’

Grace – who had been visiting a friend at her house – went upstairs on the bus because she didn’t want the confrontation.

He then said to another passenger: ‘What is the matter with her? I told her she can’t come on with fried food and she’s walked upstairs.

‘She can’t come on with fried chicken mate because it stinks the bus out.’

When another passenger asks the driver to just carry on with the journey, he says: ‘It’s not me delaying it mate. I told her the rules.’

Grace added: ‘I have always eaten on buses, on the way home from school and that.

‘There weren’t that many people on the bus anyway. Some people were just shouting at him to just drive the bus.

‘I felt really embarrassed. People were looking at me eating and I felt so fat. I felt a bit depressed by it. I went and sat upstairs right at the front for extra safety.’

The Stagecoach website states: ‘You can’t eat or drink anything that will cause offence or upset other passengers.

‘We want everyone to have a pleasant journey on our buses. We really appreciate you helping us ensure that happens.’

Marlon Osborne, TfL’s Head of Operations, said: ‘While it is our policy to ask passengers not to board buses with open containers of food for the sake of other customers, we ask drivers to occasionally use their discretion to prevent anyone being left behind late at night.

‘In this instance Ms Edun’s safety was the priority and she was able to complete her journey.

‘The bus operator has spoken to the driver about the right way to approach situations of this nature in the future.’

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