From Calgary: "Perfume spat gets woman kicked off Calgary bus." (CTV news staff)

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A Calgary transit passenger is demanding a public apology after being ordered off a bus -- twice --  because of the apparently overpowering scent of her perfume.

During her morning commute to work last Friday, Natalie Kuhn was ordered off the No. 137 Dalhousie bus by a driver who complained her perfume was too strong and was aggravating his allergies.

It happened again Monday. Kuhn said after about eight minutes into her commute, the driver pulled over and started opening all of the windows before telling her to get, just around the corner from her regular stop.

"I was humiliated and embarrassed in front of other passengers," the 25-year-old chiropractic assistant told CTV News. "I got off that bus in tears."

Kuhn said she heard no complaints from the other riders. Before she exited, she got in an argument with the driver about her perfume, "Very Irresistible" by Givenchy.

"(The bus driver) stood up, looked at the other passengers and said, 'just so everyone knows, we won't be going anywhere because of the excessive amount of perfume this woman's wearing. I can't operate this bus.'"

Kuhn called the city to complain while the driver paged his supervisor. A short time later, a transit employee arrived to escort her to her destination.

A 'civil rights' matter

Kuhn said her experience is about more than just public embarrassment.

"It's not about the perfume anymore, it's about the way I was treated," she said. "It's about rights. People's civil rights are being violated, and that's what happened to me."

The union representing Calgary's transit workers began a work-to-rule campaign on Friday -- the day of the first incident. Kuhn said she wasn't certain whether the drivers were making an issue about her perfume as an excuse to disrupt service.

Calgary Transit said an investigation is underway, although it's too early to say whether any action will be taken or whether an apology will be made. Calgary Transit spokesperson Tom McCallum said the city doesn't have a policy allowing bus drivers to deny travel to passengers wearing perfume.

Kuhn said she's been spraying on less perfume than usual after the embarrassing bus incidents, but she won't stop wearing it, and she'll keep riding bus 137 to work.