What should have only been a nine hour ride turned into a 17-hour ordeal for a dozen Greyhound passengers on Sunday.

“We left Thompson at about 10 p.m.,” said James Oman, who was taking the nine-hour route from Thompson to Winnipeg Friday night. Oman and the rest of the people on board were supposed to arrive in Winnipeg Saturday morning, but a series of unexplained delays left them stranded in Ashern overnight.

“When we got out of Pontin and we started heading towards Grand Rapids, we got hit with heavy snow,” said Oman. That was around 4:30 a.m. Saturday morning. So the bus took a two hour break just outside of Grand Rapids before departing again. Then, when the bus reached Ashern, there was another delay.

Oman said the bus driver stopped and disappeared without telling passengers where he was going.

“He was inside the gas station at the restaurant having his coffee or whatever,” said Oman. “I had to go inside to ask him what the problem was.”

Oman said the driver told him conditions were icy and the bus had an overheated motor.

For four hours, passengers were left on the bus on their own.

Oman’s brother John said the driver shouldn’t have left the passengers to fend for themselves.

“The guy says, ‘No.’ He shrugs his shoulders like he has no idea and he doesn’t care,” said John.

The bus finally arrived in Winnipeg at 4 p.m. Saturday, over eight hours after it was supposed to.

The Oman brothers posted a message on the company’s Facebook page and said they will file a formal complaint on Monday.

“It’s very stressing. I can’t be in a confined area for too long,” said Oman.

In an email, a spokesperson for Greyhound’s head office in Ohio told CTV News the company’s drivers are expected to inform passengers of any problems along the route.

The spokesperson added they are still looking into the matter.