the company in question arriva bus services and the standard of “some” of there employees driving …
where i live they loop round the block , around this block there is cars parked on the road , if you have the right of way and the bus is coming "some " of the drivers dont stop and keep barging down it … twice i have ended up in loggerheads now and not moved and been a complete ■■■■■■■ and made the bus reverse a bit , it is and was my right of way at the end of the day…
they come charging around a long sweeping blind bend around parked cars on the wrong side of the road with no caution what so ever , how there has never been a head on crash there i will never know …
mirrors so it would seem dont get used by "some "of the drivers. umpteen miliion times a bus has pulled out on me and made me anchor up as i,m going round it …
and if your in the way of the last bus on a friday/sat night . may god have mercy on your soul…
well today a bus had stopped , not at a bus stop i might add just stopped , he was also less than 5metres from a junction which we all know is illegal. i was going around it and … yes you guessed he pulled out onto me and nearly wiped me out …i layed on the horn and he didnt even acknowledge his mistake …
so today i have phoned there customer services logged an official complaint , stated all the above issues i have with them , let them know that i,am also a proffesional driver and have been for 10 years so i know what i,m talking about and witnessing (disgraceful driving) also let them know that whenever possible i will be in future logging the number plates of any arriva buses in my locality that i see being driven in a very shall we say poor inconsiderate manner…
they thanked me for my call and have told me a complaint procedure will be sent to the transport office who in turn will notify the drivers a complaint has been made on there standard of driving , they will not let the drivers know which area supposedly as the customer services dept has assured me she will also forward the complaint to the inspectors who will carry out unannounced checks in the area i,am complaining about ( probably some bloke stood by the road with a clip board for all to see )
so we shall see what happens , i,am going after them now 2 yrs i have kind of ignored it , but not any more … and i couldnt care less if it gets any one the sack , they shouldnt be on the road
yours disgruntled
paul nearly getting wiped out by buses in his car …
Arriva… I once applied for a job with them in Glasgow to be turned down, which probably had something to do with the fact I told them I stuck to the law, speed limits and drove safeley no matter what I was told to do. I think it was just as well realy as I would not have fitted in. I have had that many run ins with the drivers in the last 2 years that I now just get out of there way before they come through at speed. Ive been cut up, overtaken, had my mirror taken clean off by there drivers. I was down in the midlands last year and found the exact same style of driving being used there and within 10 minutes I was nearly reversed over!!! and this was on a main road as well. There has got to be something wrong with the shift’s and timetabling if the drivers are fourced to drive like this.
As for your complaint, Expect it to never get to the party concenrned. From what I know most companys dont even record telephone complaints and you would need to send in a letter. The most you can expect is a slap on the wrist.
As for the man in yellow jacket and clipboard… Dont expect him to work miricles, The last time I seen one of them one of there own drivers was hurling abuse at him in front of a full bus of passengers.
One day a bus from said bus company,tried to carve me up near Dewsbury,when I had the wife and kids in with me.I managed to get the details of the bus,(Reg no,fleet no.) and rung them up to complain.They said that they would ring me back once they had investigated it,and to be fair,they did,only to deny having a bus with that reg or fleet number!!!
So I then got the police involved,and they changed their tune once the police,who are next door to Dewsbury bus station,went to make enquiries.
But to this day,I never did get to know the outcome,or an apology.
And the public sometimes have a cheek to criticise us.
It must be a national thing with arriva.
When i was driving a dustbin wagon for city of york council i was stopped at traffic lights on red, i had just turned to chat to one of the crew when there was this god almighty bang & the whole wagon shuck (total weight about 20 ton) as i spun round to see what had happened, an arriva bus had come down in the other lane & wiped out my drivers mirror (volvo fm12 so quite a large mirror) the ■■■■■■■ never stopped even though some of his passengers looked like they needed clean underwear from the noise it made, even when i pulled next to him & blew the horn he never botherd to look just carried on like nothing had happened.
I did get his reg & fleet number & when i got back to depot phoned them to report it & was told the same, we will phone you when we have investegated,
& yes you quessed it i am still waiting for the call.
Gordon Browns giving free bus travel to all pensioners (most likley with arriva).
Is this a way to rednce the pension burden.
Put all the pensioners on arriva buses & most won’t survive the journey.
Driving tippers I spend a lot of time in Towns and cities. Which usually means I’m near buses.
The one thing I have noticed about bus drivers is they always assume that the vehicle about to pass them is a Car, which leads them to edge out, normally before they have looked in the mirror. Of course, an FM12 is a tad wider than a car so the bus edges out narrowing the gap I have to get through.
It seems to me that this is some kind of tactic to get drivers to give way to them, the same way that people edge the nose of thier car out of petrol stations and junctions that little bit further. However, someone is going to be killed if this tactic carries on much longer. 32tonnes meeting the side of a bus at 30mph is going to do some serious damage.
paul@midway:
but today i have with venomous distaste …
the company in question arriva bus services and the standard of “some” of there employees driving …
where i live they loop round the block , around this block there is cars parked on the road , if you have the right of way and the bus is coming "some " of the drivers dont stop and keep barging down it … twice i have ended up in loggerheads now and not moved and been a complete [zb] and made the bus reverse a bit , it is and was my right of way at the end of the day…
they come charging around a long sweeping blind bend around parked cars on the wrong side of the road with no caution what so ever , how there has never been a head on crash there i will never know …
mirrors so it would seem dont get used by "some "of the drivers. umpteen miliion times a bus has pulled out on me and made me anchor up as i,m going round it …
and if your in the way of the last bus on a friday/sat night . may god have mercy on your soul…
well today a bus had stopped , not at a bus stop i might add just stopped , he was also less than 5metres from a junction which we all know is illegal. i was going around it and … yes you guessed he pulled out onto me and nearly wiped me out …i layed on the horn and he didnt even acknowledge his mistake …
so today i have phoned there customer services logged an official complaint , stated all the above issues i have with them , let them know that i,am also a proffesional driver and have been for 10 years so i know what i,m talking about and witnessing (disgraceful driving) also let them know that whenever possible i will be in future logging the number plates of any arriva buses in my locality that i see being driven in a very shall we say poor inconsiderate manner…
they thanked me for my call and have told me a complaint procedure will be sent to the transport office who in turn will notify the drivers a complaint has been made on there standard of driving , they will not let the drivers know which area supposedly as the customer services dept has assured me she will also forward the complaint to the inspectors who will carry out unannounced checks in the area i,am complaining about ( probably some bloke stood by the road with a clip board for all to see )
so we shall see what happens , i,am going after them now 2 yrs i have kind of ignored it , but not any more … and i couldnt care less if it gets any one the sack , they shouldnt be on the road
yours disgruntled
paul nearly getting wiped out by buses in his car …
spend a few bob on a little hard-drive based device like an archos av140, and a bullet-cam which can all be wired up and hidden from view. camera in the dash, or grille etc, set it recording and have a drive round known black=spots.
it’ll get their driving, reg numbrs etc in surprising clarity.
make sure you drive in a whiter than white manner though - stopping distances, signals, courtesy etc.
then ring them again explaining your video evidence, demand measures be taken to retrain, and reprimand their drivers or you’ll present the evidence to the police, and local press.
it’s bus-drivers all over though.just always on a mission to get wherever they’re going as fast as possible.
a result of reduced vehicles covering routes to timetables set up for more sets of wheels, for fear of losing contracts, licenses and subsidies that were put in place when the fully subsidised transport policy was abolished in the late 80’s.
After the recent snows, when roads were still white, and icy apart from thing tracks of melted bits, I was doing 40 in a straight line on the speed limit for that road, and feeling like it was stretching the limits of safety when a local bus whizzed by packed to the rafters, doing about 50ish, and just avoiding sliding into the drainage ditches by the field, with the tight squeeze. didn’t appear to slow down for the 30 zone either.
i dont have a car,its only 10 mins walk to work,i get the arriva bus into town when shopping which is 12 miles away,when i get there i feel absolutely knackered.the loud pedal is either full on or the brakes are full on at the next stop.you are thrown around your seat and your insides are chucked about ,and i cant relax and enjoy the journey.it always seems to be young drivers who drive like this,boy racers just employed from the latest recruitment drive.oh hum
i think the next unlucky soul who displays some death defying feats of driving when i,m around them will find a very disgruntled other road user boarding the bus and asking for a name to go with the vehicle reg number …
thing is though if a bus hits me i,m likely to do more damage to the bus !!!
defender 90
i will be following up and seeing if standards improve over the next few days
I drive a coach alongside my bus driver colleagues and whilst its true the standard of some coach drivers is a concern on the whole their driving is I feel better than bus drivers. Our customers complaints are more likely to be taken seriously.
I don’t think much of some bus drivers but think even less of London bus drivers and i used to be one! Sometimes I get a bus from place to place and boy do I hold tight!
Looking at all the complaints about bus drivers i must admit that the standard has gone down since de-nationalisation…in the old days i had a spell on London Transport and the standard was very high…i did the training…skid pan etc…and there were often driving examiners riding as a plain clothes passenger…if the driver was found to be driving erratically…or dangerous…he would be told to get inside while the examiner continued the journey…the bus would then be driven back to the depot…(private) and the driver would then be sent back to chiswick for re- training…the standard of training was very high and taught me a thing or two after me thinking i was the dogs whatsits…if a driver was hesitant in pulling away from stops…he would be booked…if he was running late…he would be booked…same as running early…these bookings would result in the driver having to face the garage manager to explain his actions…too many would result in losing your job…but thats no excuse for not looking in your mirrors before pulling off…of course a driver has more responsibilities today than when conductors were on board…just having to wait for the bell.whereas today they have fares to collect…machines to operate…and concentration on the roads…and down the side of the bus for idiot pedestrians…
like i say the standard has really fallen below what i would call a safe and smooth ride for the passengers…and this happens all over the country regardless of the company concerned.for they too are experiencing difficulties in recruiting sensible drivers…bit like road haulage really…good and bad in all.
You will only get standard of driver ,for the wages that are offered
so for peanuts you get the diver who is happy with peanuts, higher
wages equals when checked out a better qualified driver, or am i
wrong in my thinking.
brit pete:
You will only get standard of driver ,for the wages that are offered
so for peanuts you get the diver who is happy with peanuts, higher
wages equals when checked out a better qualified driver, or am i
wrong in my thinking.
You are very right in your thinking!
Its a shame because a lot of drivers, Be it bus or truck sell themselves short, Park up and refuse to drive until its sorted. Your LIFE may depend on it, your Job Will depend on it because other nationals are willing to do the job cheaper!
)
