Result from a complaint

[adds21]

I've been cycling to work for about 18 months, and although I've had the odd close overtake, I hadn't, until last week, felt the need to write a letter of complaint to a company.

However, just over a week ago, I was overtaken very closely by a coach. I got the registration, and knew who the operator where, so knocked off a stern letter to them, telling them exactly what happened, and what I thought of the driver! I found it extra annoying as the coach drivers from this operator are usually very courteous.

The day after I posted the letter, I received an email from the company confirming they had received my letter, and outlining what the process was. As the coach involved was quite new, it would be fitted with internal and external CCTV, so they would review the CCTV, and formally interview the driver. They said I could expect to hear from them in 7 to 10 days.

True to their word, today I received the following email (XXX’s replaced by me, as I don’t see the need to publicly “out” the company or route involved).

Further to my email a few days ago regarding the incident you experienced on XXXXXX, we have now obtained and analysed the CCTV footage and I can give you the following summary of our investigations and actions.

The footage shows the bus approaching and overtaking you on your bike. The driver then moves across to the left to avoid a traffic island in the centre of the road, and in doing so the bus has moved far closer to your bike than we would consider acceptable. From our investigations it is clear that the driver did not read the road ahead correctly and make the correct judgement as to whether to hold back until he had passed the traffic island or overtake you before the island.

To put the situation into some context, the driver is a new trainee who has only been driving buses for a few weeks. A "buddy" driver was present with him during his working day at this time, to help ease the transition into the job and develop his skills. The driver's actions stemmed from a lack of experience on his part, which would explain why the standard of driving you saw on the day in question was not of the standard you have come to expect from the XXXXX drivers who use the XXX. We have taken some steps to provide additional remedial training for the staff member involved to ensure this situation does not occur in the future, and the driver concerned will be supervised by a senior member of the team to ensure his performance has improved.

So, as far as I’m concerned, a bit of a result. It certainly sounds like they looked into it. They must have looked at the CCTV as I didn’t mention the traffic island in my letter, but was aware of it. Have to say that I’ve been impressed with their quick and professional response.

Just goes to show that it is worth jotting down a quick letter.

A.

 

[HLaB]

That's certainly better than a standard response ang gives you more confidence they are going to actually do what they are saying. I'd call that a result too!

 

[ianrauk]

That's a fair result, though I din't think there is a need to hide the companies name.

 

[guitarpete247]

What a fantastic result . Perhaps this company does need "outing" for their professonal attiude to other road users. Most other firms would either ignore your leter or fob you off with some excuse of in their opinion you were perfectly safe or misguided.
I have often wanted to call one of those "Is my driving alright" numbers on the back of bus or van but never remembered number when I got home.

 

[Davidc]

That's good. The surprise at being picked up this time may mean the driver doesn't take out another cyclist or motorcyclist in future.

guitarpete247 - my single experience calling one of those suggests it's not worth the bother, but I'd do it again if there was a need as I think many companies do take an interest in bad driving, if only because good driving saves time and reputations.

 

[snorri]

Good result.

It certainly sounds like they looked into it. They must have looked at the CCTV as I didn’t mention the traffic island in my letter,

I was similarly reassured that the police had actually investigated my 'near miss' report, rather than just giving a stock response, when they phoned me back and described a third motor vehicle in the vicinity, a vehicle that I had not told them about in my report of the incident.
It can be a little difficult knowing which detail to leave out of the report.

 

[PK99]

Just goes to show that it is worth jotting down a quick letter.

A.

I had a similarly positive response to a complaint about a (suburban) London bus driver. As always with such things, assertive (your driver's behavior put me at risk) rather than aggressive (Your driver is a homicidal maniac and you are a bunch of w*****s) tends to be more productive. 

 

[As Easy As Riding A Bike]

As others have said, that's a great result, and it's nice to know the footage has been reviewed and the driver 're-educated' on that basis.

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

Anybody else note that there was no apology even hinted at though? I agree it's a good result, but an apology should surely have been part of their reply... no?

 

[John the Monkey]

I dunno sharky. finglands were very contrite when I wrote to them about a near miss.

Their drivers still drive impatiently & one of them knocked me off later that year.

If it's a choice between a company taking action to prevent such things, and one that apologises but does nowt, I'll take the former.

 

[Crankarm]

Could still just be a standard letter amended to match you circumstances. As the shark has noticed there is no apology to you for the affect their driver's driving may have had on you irrespective of how inexperienced he was. Whilst it is better than filing your letter in the bin it is still pretty close to it. Should the same driver repeat such poor driving then you know he is not cut out to be a bus driver or he is definitely maliciously and dangerously targeting cyclists.

 

[adds21]

It may well be a standard letter of sorts - In fact, I'm sure it is to a certain degree, I expect all transport companies have a standard procedure when dealing with complaints, and that probably includes guidelines or templates on what letters should say and/or admit to. However, as I mentioned, I know they at least looked at the CCTV and/or spoke to the driver because of their mention of the traffic island.

They confirmed the driver overtook too close. Is that an apology? Maybe, many not. Do I need an apology? No, not really. I'd much rather the driver was spoken to, and, maybe more importantly is aware that if he overtakes bikes too closely, he's likely to find another letter sent to his employer. As I said before, the drivers of these coaches are usually very considerate, so I have no reason to doubt they take these incidents seriously.

 

[taxing]

Could still just be a standard letter amended to match you circumstances. As the shark has noticed there is no apology to you for the affect their driver's driving may have had on you irrespective of how inexperienced he was. Whilst it is better than filing your letter in the bin it is still pretty close to it. Should the same driver repeat such poor driving then you know he is not cut out to be a bus driver or he is definitely maliciously and dangerously targeting cyclists.

I disagree with this, an apology should have been included but because they took the time to review the CCTV I think that they're actually bothered and will have a word with the driver at the very least. Otherwise they wouldn't have bothered to look at the CCTV at all.

 

[fossyant]

I dunno sharky. finglands were very contrite when I wrote to them about a near miss.

Their drivers still drive impatiently & one of them knocked me off later that year.

If it's a choice between a company taking action to prevent such things, and one that apologises but does nowt, I'll take the former.

They have a few newer (faster) cast off's now............... since Stagecoach has bought them.... add that and their driving ????

 

[DrSquirrel]

I've been cycling to work for about 18 months, and although I've had the odd close overtake, I hadn't, until last week, felt the need to write a letter of complaint to a company.

However, just over a week ago, I was overtaken very closely by a coach. I got the registration, and knew who the operator where, so knocked off a stern letter to them, telling them exactly what happened, and what I thought of the driver! I found it extra annoying as the coach drivers from this operator are usually very courteous.

The day after I posted the letter, I received an email from the company confirming they had received my letter, and outlining what the process was. As the coach involved was quite new, it would be fitted with internal and external CCTV, so they would review the CCTV, and formally interview the driver. They said I could expect to hear from them in 7 to 10 days.

True to their word, today I received the following email (XXX’s replaced by me, as I don’t see the need to publicly “out” the company or route involved).



So, as far as I’m concerned, a bit of a result. It certainly sounds like they looked into it. They must have looked at the CCTV as I didn’t mention the traffic island in my letter, but was aware of it. Have to say that I’ve been impressed with their quick and professional response.

Just goes to show that it is worth jotting down a quick letter.

A.

Pretty good response.

The pessimist in me always wonders if they don't actually do anything other than a letter to say they do/did/will etc.

What makes me wonder, is if this "buddy" driver said anything to the trainee? Does this buddy need to log incidents etc? form a review?