bus driver retaliation this morning

[hero of valour]

so I was cycling to work over a busy roundabout and in primary position in outside lane and I usually merge with the middle lane and shoot straight up as the outside lane merge's into a bus lane and cyclists slow me down...i was taking my time to move across to the middle lane and literally the second before I look to see if its clear I get a honk from a bus...fair enough...I probably could have looked a little sooner so appreciate the bus drivers response.... so I carry on in the lane I was in and the bus begins to indicate to get in the bus lane, shoots past me cutting into my lane and eventually and quite aggressively completely cuts me up to the point where I have nowhere to go and have to slow right down and move around it...so I can see the lady bus driver looking at me in the wing mirror and as I'm shaking my head I cycle past the window, slow down and say something like "there was no need for that"...to which she sticks her fingers up at me.

Whilst I was slightly in the wrong to start with her actions were pure retaliation, quite dangerous and then total bl00dy ignorance to stick her fingers up at me.

I stopped 50 yards down the road, grabbed my phone, waited for her to approach and took a very detailed photo of her bus and the registration number, needless to say she was not sticking her fingers up at me anymore and looked on quite shocked. I've got the time and the route, everything.

So, do I bother reporting it? Is it worth my time?

 

[gavroche]

Report her to the bus company for her rude gesture and lack of manners.

 

[PocketFrog]

It's totally your call on reporting - I think the benchmark I'd use is was the pass bad enough to warrant a report even if you discount the previous incident.

 

[green1]

Report it, a lot of buses have cameras these days.

 

[Matthew_T]

Definitely to the bus company. I met with the local Arriva bus depot Manager and Transport Manager for Manchester and Merseyside at the start of the year about how visible cyclists are to the driver of a bus. There is already a thread about it so I wont explain everything that happened when I was there.
But at the end, after showing the depot manager a few of my bus related videos, he said that if anything similar like that happened again, I should contact him because they aim to maintain a high standard of driving and will review the driver of anything is reported to them. He gave me his contact details but fortunately I have never needed to contact him.

Try and find out who the depot manager for the bus company is (if they have a depot) and contact them directly, it will usually result in the driver of the bus being seriously punished as the manager doesnt normally deal with complaints so hasnt got the experience of not doing anything.

 

[Matthew_T]

Report it, a lot of buses have cameras these days.

This too, buses have a camera on the driver so it should show her giving you the finger.

 

[hero of valour]

its just her attitude...she knew exactly what she was doing and whilst it werent so dangerous that i had to unclip...she gave me nowhere to go....it was just a stupid thing to do...she should have waited rather than pushing past me whilst moving into my lane and blocking me...it was the two fingers she gave me that made me stop and take a photo...i dunno...i get the feeling i'd be wasting my time and the look on her face when i took the photo and gave her a thumbs up will stay with me for a while!

 

[HLaB]

I could be wrong but it seems like a quite trivial event but her reaction was uncalled for and it sounds like she deserves to be reported for that.

 

[steve52]

as a bus driver,she is not fit for purpose, i would expect lots of things to happen when driveing a bus in traffic,if i couldent let them slide and make the world a better place i wouldent be a bus driver

 

[hero of valour]

it was just that she did it intentionally and then swore at me....who should I report her to? old bill or bus service?

 

[BSRU]

it was just that she did it intentionally and then swore at me....who should I report her to? old bill or bus service?

Police will not be interested but the bus company should be.

 

[fossyant]

Report them, that's not acceptable. I recently reported a driver that cur a corner badly, I was actually stood at traffic lights, and had to jump out of the way of the bus. Despite only having the time and a rough idea of the bus number, the company did have words with the driver.

 

[martinclive]

.......she is probably sweating it knowing you took the picture and wondering if you will report it - to be honest - I feel that is probably enough if you have made her think

 

[LCpl Boiled Egg]

.......she is probably sweating it knowing you took the picture and wondering if you will report it - to be honest - I feel that is probably enough if you have made her think

I disagree. She may worry about it for a couple of days, if she thinks about it all, but she'll be back to driving like an idiot unless something is done.

Report it and don't be fobbed off by a standard response letter.

 

[Markymark]

I had an incident with a bus driver and commendted on it here. They took it very seriously and had cameras to conduct an internal investigation (where's fnarr??)

Report it.