Man ‘sees ghost’ on Worthing bus

Passenger Colin Hicks believes he may have had a paranormal experience when an elderly passenger vanished in the blink of an eye.

In the seconds it took to get on board and buy a ticket, in South Street, Worthing, the sole passenger had spookily disappeared.

Mr Hicks, 37, of Brighton Road, Worthing, said there was no way she could have got off the bus without him noticing.

“I was surprised how relaxed I was about it,” he said. “If it had been someone in 18th century clothing floating off the floor, I’m not sure I would have been quite so relaxed.”

“You don’t expect to have that experience on a bus in the middle of Worthing.”

Mr Hicks said he was always courteous to people leaving the bus and waited to board to see if anyone needed to get off.

He let a man with a pushchair off, when he first caught sight of the woman, who was wearing a patterned coat and possibly a hat. He was the only one to get on at the time.

Seeing her staring straight ahead and not moving, he boarded and paid for his ticket but turned around to fine her gone.

He said: “I ran through it in my mind and all the various possibilities. Was there another door on the bus? Did she go past me? Was I drunk or hungover? No.

“Maybe it was a trick of the light? I’m open to the possibility of the paranormal but have never seen anything.”

Mr Hicks, who was on his way to visit his mother in Lancing, had the encounter at around 12pm on February 28 but he only told friends about it on Thursday, for fear of being branded ‘crazy’.

He posted details on Facebook, with others detailing their tales.

One reported a sighting of a woman in 1920s clothing standing at a bus stop in Worthing and vanishing shortly afterwards.

A spokesman for Stagecoach, which operates the Pulse service, said: “We have reviewed some CCTV footage but not found anything unusual as yet.

“This is very interesting and we will ask our drivers to feed back any spooky goings on that they also notice and we urge any customers to do the same.”

Have you experienced and ghostly figures on the bus? Email [email protected]