Dangerous Bus Drivers!

[wintonbina]

Hi,

I was involved in an early morning incident in Bournemouth with a Bus which tried its best to squeeze me into the railings on a roundabout!!!
Luckily I was alert(so early in the morning )& took evasive action!! To say I was livid was an understatment but I managed to get the Bus number & emailed a complaint to the relevant Bus company & to be fair I received a quick response from them but, do you think this is a lip service response?(see below) and should I push harder for further action?

Cheers,

Tony

Good Afternoon Tony,

Thank you for contacting us, concerning the driving standard of one of our driver’s on the morning of 2[sup]nd[/sup] March 2011. I was very concerned to note the contents.

In line with our normal investigatory procedures, the driver concerned has been identified and interviewed concerning the matter.Please understand that driving standards are the key skill in undertaking the role, as a PCV driver and failure to perform to the highest standards within this role, will mean extensive retraining and a further retraining test in line with the Driving Standards Agency guidelines.All of our staff receive comprehensive training to the highest standards and as such any member of staff found to be driving in a manner, which endangers our customers or other road users, will be dealt with severely.Regular in service assessments are conducted on our staff by our DSA qualified instructors and should there be any evidence that the high standards that we require are not being adhered to then re-training is swiftly arranged.I am very sorry that you have had the need to contact us in relation to this. I hope that you are not given further cause for concern.


Customer Care Assistant

Yellow Buses

Avenue Road

Bournemouth

BH2 5SH





Bournemouth Transport Ltd

Registered Office: Yeomans Way

Bournemouth, Dorset BH8 0BQ

Registered in England -

From:

Subject: Complaint about driving standards



Re: Incident at Castle Lane West Bournemouth 02-03-2011 Dear Sirs,I would like to complain about an incident this morning(2-3-2011) on Castle Lane West (eastbound towards the hospital) at the Woodbury Avenue Roundabout at approximately 06:35 hours involving myself on a bicycle and a number 3 bus which forced me to take emergency evasive action due to the inconsiderate & dangerous driving by your driver when he/she overtook me.I would like you to check the cctv footage that the bus carries now and discipline and/or try and educate this 'professional' driver on how to safely overtake another road user (a vunerable road user!). This could have been a fatality through this drivers lack of judgement.

I await your response.

 

[wintonbina]

Hi Lee,

Point taken with the letter writing but nothing wrong with my lane discipline! I heard the bus coming behind me on a dual carraigeway when I was entering a roundabout on the nearside lane, the bus cut across the r/a and upon exiting the r/a decided to run close to the inside lane railings so I decided/had to/was forced to brake very hard!! thus abrupt stoppingto avoid being flattened & thats what I would call evasive action .

So do I take it further?

Tony

 

[Arfcollins]

Hi Lee,


So do I take it further?

Too right you do! A near death experience is not something that Barbara the 'customer care assistant' should be dealing with. Find out who the MD is and ask for a proper response - before you take it to the local paper.

 

[Bigsharn]

I would take it further. It looks very much like a standardised reply. They'll soon took notice if you phone up and ask for an appointment with the fleet supervisor for the day of the incident, or asking for the area manager.

 

[HLaB]

Tony, Its up to you whether you take it further but what I would do is remove some of the personal details (esp yours) from that post!

 

[Norm]

... what I would do is remove some of the personal details (esp yours) from that post!

Good point.

 

[pshore]

I would take it further. It looks very much like a standardised reply. They'll soon took notice if you phone up and ask for an appointment with the fleet supervisor for the day of the incident, or asking for the area manager.

Yep. A company is always going to respond like that on paper. To get a sense of how genuine it is, you need to speak to someone on the phone as even just their tone of voice can reveal much about their general attitude.

If you still think not enough is happening, companies always change their habits if they think their profits will be affected. If you can make complaints via your council, they might think there is a risk of them not regaining the contract.

If the council have a get-more-people-cycling policy, that policy is going to be a joke if the bus company they employ appears to be running cyclists off the road. A job for your local cycle campaign?

 

[Adasta]

[QUOTE 1334569"]
With all due respect
[/quote]

Lee - are you getting soft?

 

[Cubist]

The reply is standard corporate bullshit. At best I suspect that the driver will have been told by his line manager to drive better. Nothing in the reply they sent you suggests anyone did anything other than copy and paste the reply into an email.

Write again, and ask for details of when the driver was spoken to, who spoke to them, what his reply/excuse was, and what the company intend to do about it.

At the very least you should be assured that the incident is recorded against their record so that any future crap driving can be considered in the context of a previous history.