[Closed] Bus driver incompetence

Its worth complaining - I did this in similar circumstances. No point in going to the polis without witnesses.

B&st&rd!

I paid him good money too - I expect results! 😈

report it, you lose nothing and maybe if your lucky the driver might at least get questioned by his employers, even if they do nothing it might make him a little more careful in future. Might not but you can live in hope and doing nothing certainly will result in nothing.

you can and should complain. Give details and ask them to inform you of what steps they have taken to inform the driver and check on his driving skills and arrange training if neccessary. They may fob you off, but for the sake of a quick letter it keeps them on their toes. It also records the driver's behaviour for future reference should it become relevant, you could always CC the local authority transport official.

What STATO said- if he's in the habit of running cyclists off the road he might already have come to their attention.

It happend to me. I chased the bugger down and had a shouting match in front of his passengers! Busses are easy to catch, they stop too often!

Something similar, had a little 'discussion' with a bus driver who just about scraped past me down the street. He got in front of me again, slammed his brakes on, then actually mounted the kerb (with a full busload of passengers) to show me how "hard" he was driving a bus. Luckily a school patrol lady witnessed it all. I got a grovely letter back from the bus operator and he got a disciplinary.

If you've got the reg they can track who was driving the bus at the time, and if it matches up with the route then they've gotta say its a fair cop.

Do it, it's worth a stamp to vent your anger (in a polite manner of course).

Ask yourself why he is driving a bus?

Bus drivers are beyond terrible. Complain please.

Its worth complaining - I did this in similar circumstances.

+1

No point in going to the polis without witnesses.

I don't agree. The police can't take any action against the driver beyond having a quiet word, but they can, [b]and should[/b]*, record it. If near misses don't get reported, they don't get recorded. If they don't get recorded, they don't become a priority for action.

And if an individual driver gets reported more than once, that strengthens the evidence against even in the absence of direct witnesses.

* but probably won't, unless you push. 🙁

Worth reporting. I always report any incidents on the road to the bus company. If they get reports of the same driver being a dick then they're going to have to do something.

What they tend to do after a number of complaints is get a mystery passenger to take a journey with them. If they are shite its further training or P45 time

I'd deffo complain. Plus a lot of modern buses now have CCTV recording the road around the bus and also what the driver is doing.
failing that, push the engine stop button on the back of his bus and then have a "chat" with the fekker.

Many (Lothian) buses in Edinburgh now have CCTV installed, with one of the cameras facing forwards and another looking out the door. Not sure what First have, but I agree it's worth reporting.

Having to commute for a few months on a bus, I actually witnessed the driver get upset with a cyclist, he accelerated next to her (while over using the horn) opened his doors and let rip a torrent of abuse. Next stop was town centre so everyone got off, I left last and told him, that was not acceptable behaviour for any driver let alone a bus driver. He said I was wrong and that the cyclist must have a death wish. I tried to explain that yes the cyclist shouldnt have done what they did but HIS reaction was just as bad.
He didnt listen, Tosser.
A week later the local paper did a story on the rising reports of bad behaviour from this bus company, and now I wish that I had reported this idiot aswell.

I was forced off the road by a bus driver pulling in at a bus stop, knowing I was there.

I lent my bike against the front of his bus, climbed on and started a conversation with him about his driving. His reaction was to admit I had been there, and then say 'what do you expect me to do, you were in the way of the bus stop?' He then completely kicked off when I suggested that killing me was a high price for arriving at the bus stop 10seconds quicker.

I was climbing off the bus and noticed one of the passengers was the deputy head of the school I was teaching at - he was on mobile calling the police, as he though the drivers driving was so bad / attitude appalling.

Cue him and I vs the driver having a big argument, until police arrived....driver was given a rather stern speaking to...

Report him as the company are obliged to follow it up with the driver and as a few people have mentioned it will add to the weight of evidence against poorer drivers. TThe problem is that there's always a shortage of drivers so sacked drivers just move on to smaller companies that don't really care about the standard of their drivers as they compete on price rather than quality of service.

It's also a shame that there isn't a way of identifying and reporting idiotic cyclists and getting them trained or removed from the road.

They have CCTV and will have words with the driver...I know of a case where the driver had to go on a training course following a complaint

Bus pulled out in front of me in my huge Movano white van. I had to lock up to miss him. I pulled up behind him at the next stop and asked him why he had done it. He said he didn't see me. I pointed out the size of my van and the fact i was 10 yds away when he pulled out might suggest he was blind and shouldn't be driving. He got arsey and told me to piss off. I complained to his company. Never seen him again.

I don't like making generalisations but in my experience bus drivers are often the worst road users. Particularly regarding pedestrians and cyclists.

I've complained in writing twice to our local bus company, once when I was bounced off the side of a fast moving bus that had strayed a foot into the cycle lane (I stayed on the bike, but could have easily ended up under the rear wheels). Both complaints were answered with a 'we'll talk to the driver' letter, which may have had an effect, but to me felt like a brush off. Do letters really work or should I have spoken to the police?

if you were bounced off the side of the bus it's an "accident", so they should have stopped, and given you the insurance details (new bars/end plugs?)

Just to temper this a little (and yes i've had a few excitiing moments with buses). THis morning a First bus and i played leapfrog along London Rd (edinburgh), when we got to the round about he held baclk and let me get into my lane. He could easily have gone for the squeeze but kept a good way back.

It must have been the taxi drivers day to harass cyclists today here.

I must defend bus drivers on the whole in Edinburgh - I have had ne or two bad incidents with them but many many times they have been courteous and helpful.

I often ride up leith walk and its a nightmare due to tram works - I find bus drivers [i] on the whole[/i] the most courteous of any on there - letting me thru, signalling their intent, thanking me when I wave them in front. I have even had buses stopping to wave me thru junctions

I think we often forget the good and only remember the bad - not that that excuse the bad drivers of course

TBF I don't seem to have too much hassle with any kind of driver these days (25m commute to central Edinburgh).

I'll call First and see what they say.

And by the same token I always wave my hand up now to say thanks for hanging back for 'good' bus drivers.

I've nearly been run off the road 3 times (in a car!) by First buses, they seem to employ people with vision. Report away!

you're a lawyer Al, send them a nice note on the headed paper

Most bus drivers in London are not bad, ime. Better than a lot of other drivers, that's for sure.

As Bigyinn mentions; there is a kill switch/engine cut-off thingy near the back of the bus. Pull that, and the driver has to get out and reset something, I think. But bear in mind, doing this, just to vent your spleen for what may actually be a genuine mistake, would inconvenience all the passengers on the bus. Who may need to get to work, pick up kids, etc. Is it fair on them?

If the driver is driving dangerously, then deffo report him.

do bus drivers have targets to meet? is their tardiness monitored?
London bus drivers are generally very good with bikes, but there are some who seem to want to race you, beat you to a bus stop or to a narrowing in the road. are they just being dicks or do they get performance related pay for being on time?

Do modern buses have the shut-off button the back like the old ones?

Report it. I was run off the road by a First Bus driver in Edinburgh a while back (overtook me on a 90 degree bend into oncoming traffic), caught him at the next lights. He told me to F88k off and if he saw me again he'd make sure I'd have an accident. What a nice chap.

Wrote them a letter with reg plate, route number and description of the driver. Got a standard "thank-you for your enquiry to First Bus, you may find the answer to your query on our website" letter with a few days...FAQ didn't contain " why do you employ halfwits to drive your buses?"

Then a letter about 6 months later saying the driver in question had no recollection of the incident and had since retired from the company. Aye right, he was 40 absolute max.

Don't expect much to happen