Appalling bus overtake

[classic33]

Report it at the local level & Arriva seem to be unable, sorry unwilling, to do anything. So don't be suprised by a standard response letter from them.

 

[paulfromthenorth]

Thanks and welcome.

Very useful you being here and commenting. Tomorrow I've been asked to call a customer services "executive" from one of the major bus companies to discuss a couple of letters sent to me recently, and whether an impersonal listing of the company's policies in responding to complaints is a sufficient response which satisfies the complainant that things are really being done.

Maybe it's all in the wording, but we'll see...

Oo err I could never hope to compete with an "executive" and would not presume to speak for other public service operators but I would say that the stock apology and "we are dealing with it" type of response is perhaps not appropriate in many cases.

My belief and my company's general approach is more personal and very often involves a telephone conversation as well as a letter.

However, if action is taken against an employee the company cannot specifically discuss the sanctions awarded with a third party. The individual can as it is his/her choice but the company is forbidden from doing so.

Not here to defend bus companys you should understand but have some experience of how we deal with things which I fully accept is not ideal from the customers (or complainants) perspective.

I would close by saying there is never an excuse for the driving standard demonstrated in the video which started this thread or indeed the driver's reaction when confronted.

If he worked for me he would certainly be facing formal action for both!

Hope this helps.

 

[davidg]

he didnt express any surprise at what he had done, and given how quickly the bus doors opened ready for a confrontation, that is really quite worrying.

Hope you follow that one through, benborp

 

[HLaB]

It was extremely poor driving but if he had apologized I would of be inclined to leave it like that, but no the spanner gets abusive; you've done the right thing in reporting that IMO.

 

[Origamist]

Glad you're Ok, Ben.

I'm sure TFL will take action - both for the abysmal driving and hysterical abuse.

 

[BentMikey]

This is my first post so "be gentle."

I am a manager with a large bus company and I can definatley confirm that things do happen when these incidents are reported. Investigations are undertaken and we use CCTV quite extensively to try an establish "fault." It isn't ALWAYS the bus driver to blame of course.

Sometimes retraining is the appropriate result but I have been personally involved in disciplinary procedures over similar incidents where the individual has been dismissed.

Bus company's take these things very seriously when they are made aware of them.

Cracking forum by the way.

Welcome and thanks for coming on here! I appreciate the candour and details you've given.

In fairness to most bus drivers I encounter, they are gentlemen of the road and make a lot of effort to take care around vulnerable road users. Of course there are a few bad eggs, but my experience is that on average bus drivers are far better than car drivers. I expect this is why buses and taxis don't feature nearly as much as do car drivers on my video channel.

In the past I've taken letters of thanks and chocolates to a number of local bus garages due to the excellent driving.

 

[Helly79]

That was really bad driving from the bus driver. You handled it very well.

 

[AndyCarolan]

wow, very close indeed. What surprised me more was his confrontation over the incident... I couldnt really understand all that he was saying, but it didnt sound like an apology

 

[bryce]

Unbelievable. People often post 'near-misses' on here that usually look ordinary but that is downright dangerous and scary. Driver sounds like he's missed his medication. Jeez....

 

[swee'pea99]

Yes indeed, a real case of 'Nurse! He's out of bed again.' Glad you're following it up (oh, and congratulations on the restraint of your initial confrontation...not sure I'd have been as calm.)

 

[Tinuts]

Yes, where do Arriva bus drivers get their licenses and their attitude from? The last one I had dealings with had decided that driving into an ASL whilst I was in it was perfectly OK. Obviously, I had words with him (reminding him of his legal position with relation to ASLs), at which point he became quite aggressive and claimed that I'd only spoken to him about it because he was black! WTF? In this day and age! Needless to say, I then reported our little exchange to tfl. As usual, the stock response was received meaning, no doubt, that bugger all was done about it.

 

[andrew-the-tortoise]

Shocking manoeuvre; think he forgot it was a double decker not a minibus he was driving.

Glad the drivers round here are a lot better!

 

[DrSquirrel]

What gets me here is how angry he was from the outset.

Makes me wonder if he felt that way BEFORE the manoeuvre.

at which point he became quite aggressive and claimed that I'd only spoken to him about it because he was black! WTF? In this day and age!

Best thing with these people is to call them racist, because that is what it is.

 

[benborp]

I was about to write follow ups to Arriva and TfL regarding this incident as I hadn't had any response two weeks after making the complaint. However this arrived today:

Dear xxxxx



We were very concerned to receive your comments regarding the driver on a ‘Rail Replacement’ bus on 4 July. Such behaviour is clearly not acceptable, and we would like to thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.



The driver concerned has now been referred to a senior manager for a full enquiry. These enquiries are only used for the most serious of incidents as they give the manager the power to dismiss a member of staff. Although this may not result in the driver losing his job, we obviously cannot allow a situation such as this pass without taking some form of action.



Whilst we are bound by a duty of confidentiality, and cannot inform you of the outcome of the interview, we can say, however, that the action taken will reflect our concerns about this incident.



Please accept my apologies for any upset caused and thank you for taking the time to contact London Buses.



Yours sincerely



xxxxxx

As an experiment I reported the incident using Arriva's and also TfL's on-line reporting forms. Neither form was configured to deal with rail replacement services and Arriva's form had a dropdown for operational area which didn't include London. Neither form would complete unless information was entered in the fields. I entered details of bus routes that operate in the area on the TfL form and reported the incident in an adjacent region on the Arriva form then explained in the comments sections which information in the forms was erroneous.

I'll give TfL a couple of days more to respond.

 

[Paul_L]

well that seems a pretty genuine letter.

Maybe this will be a warning to him to be more considerate about other road users in future (if he keeps his job that is)