First time for me....surprised myself!!!

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Herbie

Veteran
Location
Aberdeen
Today i did something I've not done before....I made a complaint about a Stagecoach bus driver.....I'm not much of a complainer....too easy going I am. Anyway...today i was cycling down Union Street in Aberdeen when a Stagecoach bus passed very very close...so close that passengers on board looked quite alarmed. I caught up with the bus at traffic lights and chapped on the drivers window to say he was a wee bitty close to me back there....his response was " you fxxxing cyclists are a pain in the nether regions" then lights changed and he drove off. I caught him again at next set of lights and chapped again at his window for another chat with him his exchange this time was a bit more unpleasant threatening " to knock my fxxxing heid off" etc etc. Now I'm sure that's no way for a bus company employee to speak to a member of the public ? His passengers must have heard him spouting forth...not good ...anyway I then managed to get on the pavement and took a picture of his bus as he drove off...I noticed he was flicking the V's and looking pretty angry at me. This is the first time I've experienced anything like this and I was kinda shocked about it so I thought for a few minutes about to do and decided this chap couldn't get off with this so I sped down the road to the Stagecoach office at the bus station to make a complaint. A nice lady took a statement from me and said they would get back to me after they investigate with the outcome....will there really be an outcome over this or was I wasting time making a complaint? Anyone got any satisfaction with complaints they've made?
 

MiK1138

Veteran
Location
Glasgow
just make sure you follow up on it, dont let them off the hook
 

swee'pea99

Legendary Member
Well done. Probably the best you can expect is some bland letter telling you how the driver has been identified and given a stern talking to and blah de blah - none of which you have any way of knowing to be true. Nevertheless, it may well be true. And more importantly, it's only complaints like this that change behaviour, systems and most importantly the culture at places like this. If word gets round that you can't just do stuff like this and get away with it, it happens less often - eventually, hopefully, not at all.
 

classic33

Leg End Member
You'll have the time and location of the incident. To help in identifying the driver.
There should also be a video camera above the driver, which should have sound as well.
Usually the cameras are fitted for driver protection, which is why sound should be available.
 
As tempting as it can be to knock on peoples windows and let them know they were stupid. It more often than not escalates the situation, it is often far, far safer to just let them go, and get the distance from you.
 
OP
OP
Herbie

Herbie

Veteran
Location
Aberdeen
As tempting as it can be to knock on peoples windows and let them know they were stupid. It more often than not escalates the situation, it is often far, far safer to just let them go, and get the distance from you.


Yeah I know but this guy was pretty nasty to me and really got my dander up and I thought Stagecoach should know how one their employees was behaving.....I,m sure drivers get lots of aggro from punters and they should be trained to deal with confrontation not create it....a simple "sorry Mr Cyclist" the first time I challenged him would have kept me happy even if he didn't really mean it
 

byegad

Legendary Member
Location
NE England
Yes, even the most crass employer will start to think again if a stream of complaints come in about one driver. While one complaint can be passed off as a cranky cyclist, several is a pattern that they have to act on, unless it comes to an actual collision and a court case. Where they can be shown to be negligent.
 

hedder2212

Senior Member
Location
Walsall
I don't know how stagecoach deal with their drivers but the company I do part time for take things like this very seriously and I know how the whole procedure usually works (or how it goes at the company I work for anyway)

All busses should be fitted with cameras (ours are anyway) and the footage from that day will be pulled, they'll look at around the time you claim this happened (remember they don't know if it happened or not hence the investigation) and see how things went down.

After they have viewed the footage they should do one of three things -
1) speak to the driver if this is his first time and tell him where he went wrong, giving him a official warning and putting him through for further training to drive a bus.
2) If the above has happened before and he still hasn't taken notice, they could start disciplinary proceedings including suspension or sacking (my company prefers suspension and retraining).
3) send the footage to the relevant authorities and give him his p45 and refuse to give a reference to the next company he will try to get work at.

Some companies just choose to ignore most complaints so don't let it sit, get onto them if they don't get in touch with you in the next few days, threaten to take the complaint to the local police, the police wont do much but the threat is there, request a written apology from the driver and say you'll take it no further.

If it does get ignored then as above, at least its down on file now and if more complaints come in one of the three steps above will be enforced.
 
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