Bus driver booked by police

[aylesbury]

Yesterday on a trip up to our town centre,the bus was pulled over by a policeman and the driver booked for using his mobile phone whilst driving.This makes you wonder how many more bus drivers do this whilst at work ie.driving?He apologised to us all but I wonder what the attitude of the company would be,as last year another driver ,same company,drove with an i pod plugged in ,but he has since left the company.Is this sought of happenning limited to small companies as the large national companies seem to train to a higher standard.

 

[Ivo]

I found this on the website of Chippenham-based Faresaver a few days ago. It makes for rather grim reading.

One of our drivers was stopped for alleged drink driving last Thursday 24th January, the allegation is that he had 42mg/100ml of alcohol in his blood, the legal limit being 35mg/100ml. This is not something we are proud to tell you, but it will be in the press and we would like all of our passengers to be aware that we take the safety of our passengers very seriously. The driver is no longer in our employment.

...and as stated, it made local headlines (link*).

Not good at all. This on a route that had just seen its frequency doubled to every 30 minutes, which as a result of negative publicity may not last long...

* Quote not provided due to some description not being particularly family-friendly; it is safe for work however. On the flip side, credit to the editors for ensuring a recent picture was provided - the bus to the far left has only been in the Melksham area for three months!

-------------------------------

As for big companies? There used to be a few drivers around here who really didn't care, and would talk on phones, listen to music, and so on so forth. It ultimately led to a clampdown and some of the drivers left as a result.

 

[trentside]

At least Faresaver have had the common sense to acknowledge the negative publicity on their website - it's at least some form of damage limitation. It still makes for grim reading, and I can't say it's something I recall having heard about before.

I've witnessed drivers using mobile phones on the move on several occasions and have reported it each time. It's not something I like to do, but at the end of the day it's been made illegal for a reason - and someone driving a big vehicle and also on their phone isn't paying full attention to the road.

 

[Qwerty133]

I've been on a rail replacement bus with the driver on his phone while driving. And that is not the most dangorous experience I've had on a rail replacement.

 

[northwichcat]

I remember when the Police did 'random checks' on school buses at my old school.

They found one minibus driver not in a fit state to drive. An elderly Leyland double decker operated by Middlewich based Ravel Travel was well over the legal limit for exhaust fumes and a Volvo coach belonging to former Middlewich based operator Niddries Coaches suffered a problem with an outward opening door jamming and the children not being able to alight - the driver gave it a hard shove and that broke it good and proper! Given they checked around 20 buses and about 10 minibuses I'm surprised the random checks weren't carried out more frequently.

 

[michael769]

Given they checked around 20 buses and about 10 minibuses I'm surprised the random checks weren't carried out more frequently.

Alas neither the police nor VOSA have adequate resource to carry out the necessary level of enforcement.

This is a concern as whenever I have heard of similar operations the results in terms of the number of defective vehicles and other detected offences does not make comfortable reading for any regular bus user.

 

[ATW Alex 101]

My bus driver did this last week, he is a muppet and shouldn't be driving school buses. He drove on the motorway with doors open, drives buses with no working speedometer, counts his money and sorts it into change bags whilst driving and he answers his mobile phone as well. He is lucky I, or anybody else, don't report him!

 

[anthony263]

Yesterday on a trip up to our town centre,the bus was pulled over by a policeman and the driver booked for using his mobile phone whilst driving.This makes you wonder how many more bus drivers do this whilst at work ie.driving?He apologised to us all but I wonder what the attitude of the company would be,as last year another driver ,same company,drove with an i pod plugged in ,but he has since left the company.Is this sought of happenning limited to small companies as the large national companies seem to train to a higher standard.

With First and the other big companies a few drivers I know have said they would report any of their drivers if they see them using a mobile phone while they are driving.

I am currently working for Iceland and I was told using a mobile while driving is considered a very serious offence and could result in the driver loosing their job

 

[Shrimper]

I know a Stagecoach driver who was caught using his phone and reported to the Traffic Commissioner who suspended his licence for 4 days.

Most companies will instigate internal procedures for using phones; many will do random breath and drug checks as well.

 

[Pumbaa]

It seems alarmingly common in Arriva Merseyside. I have asked drivers before to stop using their phone, quite nicely, just because I don't think it's fair on the ~70 passengers onboard their vehicle and in their charge. Most take it well (proper scousers) but I've had one or two get ****ed off at me for asking them not to break the law.... One opened the doors once and asked me to get off, to which I replied "I get off and I phone your depot and report you". He carried on driving.

I don't understand why they do it, there's at least 4 CCTV cameras which cover the drivers cab. I wouldn't want to risk my job personally.Not to mention the safety of my passengers.

 

[LE Greys]

A First Aberdeen view of traffic lights.

Green means go
Amber means go faster
First 3 seconds of red means go really fast

To be fair, driving down King Street during the rush hour is enough to drive anyone up the wall. The bus lane is discontinuous, so drivers have to take their chance to get into it. When they do run red lights, it usually leads straight into the back of the queue for the next lot, and I can see why they might not want a load of other people getting in front of them. It's sometimes so bad that everybody just sits out one entire sequence of lights to wait for a space to open.

 

[dvboy]

If I spot any bus driver on a mobile phone and I'll send quick tweet to @networkwm with the company and fleet number and leave it in their hands. This includes bus drivers who stop their vehicle in service to take what is clearly a personal call (I'm looking at you, Midland).

 

[BestWestern]

Not good

Again, I can't help feel that this is the result of the bus industry as a whole forcing down wages for decades and deliberately putting the job in the gutter in order to keep their costs down. All the time you pay peanuts for a job which is stressful, thankless and involves working highly unsociable hours, you will struggle desperately to attract applicants of a decent calibre. All the time you are struggling for staff and therefore happy to give a job to just about anyone, you will lose the luxury of choice and end up with people who you would never ideally employ. All the the time you allow new drivers to just about scrape through their PCV test, you will get people who drive badly. And so on. The industry has got itself into a vicious circle of poor pay and conditions attracting far too many poor staff. That isn't to say that all bus drivers fall into that category, far from it. There a great many excellent drivers out there, and I did the job myself for a number of years and very much enjoyed it. Alas, I found a job on the railways - with the same parent company - which paid me far more money for far less work. Ho hum.

It's sad to say it, but bus driving is currently seen by many as simply a way to pay the bills, a job not a career. A PCV licence should be viewed as an achievement and an asset, but thanks to the efforts of the big groups dishing out licences to anybody who wants one, and smaller cowboys who ensure that you will never be out of a job no matter how bad you are, the job instills precious little pride in many of those who do it. Many good staff will simply go and find a job somewhere else, often never to use their licence again. Many bad staff will get themselves kicked out of the big firms, and fill the vacancies at second rate outfits who will take anybody. It's not a happy picture

Faresaver sound like a decent firm, they were certainly sensible enough to 'come clean' and do their best to retain the respect of their ridership. A good move.

 

[34D]

If I spot any bus driver on a mobile phone and I'll send quick tweet to @networkwm with the company and fleet number and leave it in their hands. This includes bus drivers who stop their vehicle in service to take what is clearly a personal call (I'm looking at you, Midland).

Why on earth is pulling over and taking a call a problem to you? This is what the law requires!

Personally, any driver (car or bus or train) who doesn't use a bluetooth headset deserves all they get.

 

[90019]

This includes bus drivers who stop their vehicle in service to take what is clearly a personal call (I'm looking at you, Midland).

How can you tell what sort of call a driver is making?

I've had to pull over to make calls before, either because of problems with the radio on the bus or because I need to speak to someone on the desk at my depot.

 

[Ivo]

I've had to pull over to make calls before, either because of problems with the radio on the bus or because I need to speak to someone on the desk at my depot.

I've been on a bus whose driver had to call the depot because the front suspension smashed against a speed hump. These things happen.

As far as I am aware, the Law states that you must not make a call if driving (or otherwise with the engine on, though I may be wrong). There is nothing wrong with pulling over, turning the engine off and using the phone. It may be an inconvenience to the passenger but sometimes it's necessary.

 

[BestWestern]

Why on earth is pulling over and taking a call a problem to you? This is what the law requires!

Personally, any driver (car or bus or train) who doesn't use a bluetooth headset deserves all they get.

I would have a problem if it wasn't work-related or a dire personal emergency!

I have my reservations about Bluetooth headsets. They still cause distraction, and personally I wouldn't fancy having my brains slowly fried day after day! A couple of minutes with a mobile to the ear has to be less damaging than a headset permanently stuck there surely?!

 

[Wyvern]

Originally Posted by dvboy
If I spot any bus driver on a mobile phone and I'll send quick tweet to @networkwm with the company and fleet number

This is exactly the holier than thou attitude that gets this forum and spotters in general a bad name.

 

[Donny Dave]

This is exactly the holier than thou attitude that gets this forum and spotters in general a bad name.

Why? The driver is breaking the law, and endangering the lives of their passengers, plus anyone else around the bus....

 

[Yew]

I would have a problem if it wasn't work-related or a dire personal emergency!

I have my reservations about Bluetooth headsets. They still cause distraction, and personally I wouldn't fancy having my brains slowly fried day after day! A couple of minutes with a mobile to the ear has to be less damaging than a headset permanently stuck there surely?!

The main distraction is getting the dam things to work! And then giving up and having to go through too many menus to find the person you want to call.

 

[BestWestern]

Why? The driver is breaking the law, and endangering the lives of their passengers, plus anyone else around the bus....

I'd have to agree with you, speaking as a license holder myself. Assuming you are referring to using the phone whilst actually driving the vehicle, of course. People who maintain such low standards of professionalism do their colleagues no favours at all, and really don't deserve to be making a living from their driving.

 

[bluenoxid]

This is exactly the holier than thou attitude that gets this forum and spotters in general a bad name.

I ring up van firms and haulage companies and raise a complaint. The alternative option is that I ring the police and let them deal with it.

The problem is that once you realise how pointless the call was (made even more frustrating when you realise that the business has strict rules about this because of the law) and been affected by the same drivers who have managed to kill someone you know because they were concentrating on the call, you tend to show less remorse to people like this.

 

[dvboy]

Clearly my post caused some controversy.

I have no problem with the driver pulling over to take the call if it's from the depot eg if the radio doesn't work, but it's not OK to stop the vehicle to prattle on for 5+ minutes on what is clearly a personal matter (I was close enough to overhear it at the time).

 

[Muzer]

I've been on a rail replacement bus with the driver on his phone while driving. And that is not the most dangorous experience I've had on a rail replacement.

Ah, yes, where do they get those rail-replacement drivers?

(Well, it might not be entirely their fault - I bet they're on very tight, unrealistic schedules.)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I would have a problem if it wasn't work-related or a dire personal emergency!

I have my reservations about Bluetooth headsets. They still cause distraction, and personally I wouldn't fancy having my brains slowly fried day after day! A couple of minutes with a mobile to the ear has to be less damaging than a headset permanently stuck there surely?!

I don't have any stats to back me up, but I reckon the bluetooth headsets, despite being at a slightly higher frequency (2.4GHz, further into microwaves, compared to various usually-lower frequencies for mobile phones), would be significantly lower power (it only needs to get from your head to your pocket, compared to your head to a transmitter miles away!); enough not to do anything. Of course, I'm not a brain expert, so take this with a pinch of salt

 

[deltic1989]

I ring up van firms and haulage companies and raise a complaint. The alternative option is that I ring the police and let them deal with it.

The problem is that once you realise how pointless the call was (made even more frustrating when you realise that the business has strict rules about this because of the law) and been affected by the same drivers who have managed to kill someone you know because they were concentrating on the call, you tend to show less remorse to people like this.

Someone rang up the haulage firm i work for once claiming that they had seen me driving through Swindon whilst talking on my mobile.
Let me tell you I was right royally p155ed off to nearly be sacked for scratching the back of my ear.

Most companies in the transport industry quite rightly have very strict policies on mobile phone use, and using one at the wheel for me is a sackable offence. but as I have stated above members of the public phoning up your firm on the basis of a 2 second glimpse can be a bit of a pain.
Law enforcement is best left to the Police, after all that's their job.
This kind of vigilante attitude could lead to a Father of 3 being unable to pay the bills for nothing more than a simple itch.

 

[Donny Dave]

I take it, you, like myself, and a few other forum members, work, or have worked in the haulage industry then ....

If so, unless you have been extremely lucky, you will have had quite a few journeys affected (or worse, seen the aftermath of a fatal accident like I have) by some d******d not paying attention to the road, usually because the pratt in question was using their mobile phone ....

I'm not a holier than thou person because it is against the law. I have seen the consequences of what can happen, and if it is safe and legal to do so, I will notify the police, and/or the transport firm involved to report the driver.....

By no means am I a perfect, or for that matter, a very good driver, but I am better than average. I have had a couple of (very) near misses in that past caused by my own inattention. However, I have learned from my mistakes. IE. Not looking at my phone at all while I'm driving, and instead of getting a cigarrette out of a packet while in motion, get severel out before hand and put them in an easy to reach position, so I can grab 1 when required.

 

[Morden Via CHX]

Honestly baffles me how people can talk on the phone and drive at the same time, I have only had my full driving license a year but recently tried to answer a call when driving and just could not do it, remember I am only in charge of a 1.2l Fiat, these guys are driving double decker buses at the same time. Honestly scares me when I see other road users on their phones it really does. Admittedly I am a bit of a wimp.

 

[deltic1989]

I take it, you, like myself, and a few other forum members, work, or have worked in the haulage industry then ....

If so, unless you have been extremely lucky, you will have had quite a few journeys affected (or worse, seen the aftermath of a fatal accident like I have) by some d******d not paying attention to the road, usually because the pratt in question was using their mobile phone ....

I'm not a holier than thou person because it is against the law. I have seen the consequences of what can happen, and if it is safe and legal to do so, I will notify the police, and/or the transport firm involved to report the driver.....

By no means am I a perfect, or for that matter, a very good driver, but I am better than average. I have had a couple of (very) near misses in that past caused by my own inattention. However, I have learned from my mistakes. IE. Not looking at my phone at all while I'm driving, and instead of getting a cigarrette out of a packet while in motion, get severel out before hand and put them in an easy to reach position, so I can grab 1 when required.

I do, and I have seen the consequences of using a phone at the wheel more times than I would like to recall. An episode of Traffic Cops (Fatal Distraction i think it was called) highlighted the dangers, all too clearly.

Re-reading my previous post it does seem that I have come across in a rather agressive way. I can only attribute this to long bad day at work and apologise, it was not my intent to come across in this manner.
The point I was trying to make was that, you can never take things on the basis of a 1 or 2 second glance. As in my case I was scratching my ear, which to an observer on a pavement that I pass at 30 mph or to a car driver passing me on the motorway doing 70 may look like I am holding a device to my ear, so unless you can be 100% certain that said driver is using a mobile phone, then a call tho the police or the firm may result in the dismissal of a driver for nothing.
In the modern age there are other ways of contacting people whilst driving that are perfectly legal, bluetooh has been mentioned. I fully agree that the headsets are a pain in the rectum, I used to use one and they are uncomfortable to wear, new systems however are great.
The phone in the cab of my new truck is really clever, its voice activated so I can just say 'Office' and it calls my boss, and talking on it is no more of a distraction than talking to someone in the passenger seat, it does have the disadvantage of appearing to the outside world as if you have gone loopy and started talking to yourself though.

 

[richw]

Deltic, do you find your phone calls the wrong person much on the voice system? Mine often calls someone completely different to what I've told it, yet it can do word perfect voice command sms-Ing

 

[bluenoxid]

Someone rang up the haulage firm i work for once claiming that they had seen me driving through Swindon whilst talking on my mobile.
Let me tell you I was right royally p155ed off to nearly be sacked for scratching the back of my ear.

Most companies in the transport industry quite rightly have very strict policies on mobile phone use, and using one at the wheel for me is a sackable offence. but as I have stated above members of the public phoning up your firm on the basis of a 2 second glimpse can be a bit of a pain.
Law enforcement is best left to the Police, after all that's their job.
This kind of vigilante attitude could lead to a Father of 3 being unable to pay the bills for nothing more than a simple itch.

Oh, I won't do it for a 2 second glimpse. I get itches too and it is very difficult to get a good glimpse into the cab of a vehicle. I will be looking very closely from the passenger seat of another vehicle or from the drivers seat in traffic jam.

We all have itches but it won't stop me having a go at those that I witness clearly with a brick.

Its the dropped lower jaw look when the horn goes is the best give away.

I don't want to see anyone lose their job but I don't want to stand at funerals either.