Stranger than fiction: it could only happen in Milton Keynes

A Milton Keynes teenager with a student bus pass was asked by the bus driver to pay for a ticket for the cardboard cut-out figure he was carrying.

When he boarded the number seven Arriva bus service at the Point, Milton Keynes, Liam Sheridan, 17, was asked to pay an extra full adult fare for the cut-out figure of the main character from the Xbox game Gears of War 3. As the cut-out was life-size, and took up another seat on the half-empty bus, the bus driver felt compelled to charge for a new ticket.

Had Liam refused to pay he would have had to carry the life-size cut-out four miles to his home in Furzton. Bus company Arriva have still to explain the decision, despite weeks of silence.

Dick Skellington 10 February 2012

Cartoon by Gary Edwards

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Tweet A Milton Keynes teenager with a student bus pass was asked by the bus driver to pay for a ticket for the cardboard cut-out figure he was carrying. When he boarded the number seven Arriva bus service at the Point, Milton Keynes, Liam Sheridan, 17, was asked to pay an extra full adult fare for the cut-out figure of the main character from the Xbox ...

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About Society Matters

Provocative, relevant, current: for the last decade Society Matters magazine has been informing, engaging and annoying social sciences students in equal measure. Now, its move online has given us the chance to bring its lively mix of analysis and opinion to a wider audience.

Society Matters online started in October 2010 and has, so far, covered a wide range of issues and topics ranging from inequality and the big society to arms sales and foreign policy. All can be seen by scrolling down from the top of the Society Matters front page.

We have also illustrated many of these posts with the work of our two illustrators (see below). Serious analyses have been interspersed with posts on a less weighty issues which show both human folly and innovation.

Society Matters continues to be edited by its original creator, Dick Skellington. Dick, pictured above, was previously a programme manager in the social sciences faculty, walks the talk through an active involvement in the affairs of his home town of Stony Stratford, Bucks, and finds light relief through writing poetry and the occasional stage appearance in local productions.

Since many years at the coalface of journalism have taught us all that sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words Dick is aided and abetted by resident illustrators, Gary Edwards and Catherine Pain – both former OU students.

Catherine has drawn and painted all her life, and when she is not pillorying public figures for Society Matters paints animal portraits, works in stained glass and produces alphabet teaching posters for children. Her work is in several galleries in and around her current home in Cambridgeshire and her publications include an illustrated cookbook sold on behalf of the National Trust, a colouring book for small children, Alphabet for Colouring, and The Lost Children, a story for older children. Her website is at catherinepain.co.uk

Gary has written two best-selling books about his travels all over the world watching Leeds United FC, Paint it White and Leeds United - The Second Coat. His third title No Glossing Over will be published by Mainstream in September 2011. He has not missed a Leeds game anywhere in the world since February 1968 and married his wife Lesley at Elland Road.

Specialising in wall murals, Gary also holds diplomas from the London Art College, The Morris College of Journalism, has a Diploma in Freelance Cartooning and Illustration and is a contributing cartoonist for Speakeasy, an English-speaking magazine in Paris. During the 1970's and 1980's he collected hearses and is a long time member of the Official Flat Earth Society as well as the Clay Pigeon Preservation Society.

Please note: The opinions expressed in Society Matters posts are those of the individual authors, and do not represent the views of The Open University.