Worth Making A complaint

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vak11
Posts: 13
Joined: 18 Feb 2013, 1:37pm

Worth Making A complaint

Post by vak11 »

I recently had a close experience with a 'bendy bus' and rather than rant about it to my cycling friends decided to write to the bus company in question with the following:

I would like to bring to your attention of the manner in which your number XX 'bendy bus' registration xxxx xxx was being driven.

I was cycling on Queens Road towards the junction with Knighton Road on the marked cycle lane and was around 15 to 20 meters from the junction. I noticed that the vehicle in question has started to overtake me. It was obvious to me that there was insufficient space for the bus to have overtaken me fully before turning left therefore I started slowing my speed. Eventually I had to come to a full stop to avoid being caught in a tight squeeze between the rear half of the bus and the pavement at the junction.

If I have not done so and carried on cycling in my line of travel as I am legally entitled to do (according to highway code 162 to 169 it is the responsibility of the vehicle overtaking to ensure that they can complete their action safely) it is unlikely that I will be in a position to be sending this email to you.

While I do not think the driver in question deliberately intended to cause me harm had I not taken preventative action I would have joined the sad statistics of cyclists who met their end under the wheels of large vehicles taking a left hand bend around the country.

On an average I cycle up and down Queens Road several times a week which is part of the no XX bus route and on the vast majority of the times all you drivers handle the vehicle with due care and pay particular attention to the safety of all road users. Therefore I hope that the above was a one off misjudgement.

Please take whatever action you feel is appropriate and I am happy to assist if you feel any of the above is not clear.


Earlier today I was pleasantly surprised to receive a call from the bus company in quesiton and here is a summery of the message

    Thre driver has been disciplined under our disciplinary process
    The driver is placed on a special list which is closely monitored for a fixed period of time (few months)
    Any further transgression by the driver in question during the fixed period will result in further disciplinary action and possible dismissal
    Apologised for the behaviour of the driver
    Thanked me for the complaint


After this experience I will definetly be writing to the relevant organisations more often than I have been in the past.
Mark1978
Posts: 4912
Joined: 17 Jul 2012, 8:47am
Location: Chester-le-Street, County Durham

Re: Worth Making A complaint

Post by Mark1978 »

Very nice! Most of the time that's all you want to hear. Unlike occasions where I've contacted Go North East about driver behaviour and it's either been "Driver did nothing wrong", or silence.
irc
Posts: 5192
Joined: 3 Dec 2008, 2:22pm
Location: glasgow

Re: Worth Making A complaint

Post by irc »

Nice reply. Most buses these days have cctv cameras. So i a reg no and exact time is given it should be easy to check and assess how bad the driving was. Maybe not every incident will be conclusive but ones like this should be fairly clear.
karlt
Posts: 2244
Joined: 15 Jul 2011, 2:07pm

Re: Worth Making A complaint

Post by karlt »

Useful. Last time I complained about a bus driver I was told I couldn't be told what action would be taken or had been taken. Clearly this isn't true. I've got a couple of complaints in at the moment (bad couple of weeks!) and I shall bear this in mind if and when I get a reply.
Mistik-ka
Posts: 505
Joined: 5 Feb 2012, 10:01pm
Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

Re: Worth Making A complaint

Post by Mistik-ka »

vak11, your letter to the bus company is a model of how to frame such a report — no outrage or antagonism and you gave the company an easy route to do the right thing in response. Well done!
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bigjim
Posts: 3244
Joined: 2 Feb 2008, 5:08pm
Location: Manchester

Re: Worth Making A complaint

Post by bigjim »

There are a couple of bus drivers ride with our club. They tell me that nothing ever comes of this. The drivers are not disciplined in any way. I got a reply from the local bus company that the driver would be sent back to training school. Evidently it's a load of crap to keep us quiet.
Phil Fouracre
Posts: 919
Joined: 12 Jan 2013, 12:16pm
Location: Deepest Somerset

Re: Worth Making A complaint

Post by Phil Fouracre »

Well, there's a surprise!
Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity
Flinders
Posts: 3023
Joined: 10 Mar 2009, 6:47pm

Re: Worth Making A complaint

Post by Flinders »

bigjim wrote:There are a couple of bus drivers ride with our club. They tell me that nothing ever comes of this. The drivers are not disciplined in any way. I got a reply from the local bus company that the driver would be sent back to training school. Evidently it's a load of crap to keep us quiet.


that may depend on the company concerned, and/or the area. Who do they work for?
basingstoke123
Posts: 202
Joined: 13 Feb 2008, 10:05pm

Re: Worth Making A complaint

Post by basingstoke123 »

bigjim wrote:There are a couple of bus drivers ride with our club. They tell me that nothing ever comes of this. The drivers are not disciplined in any way. I got a reply from the local bus company that the driver would be sent back to training school. Evidently it's a load of crap to keep us quiet.

But claiming action was taken, when nothing was actually done, could backfire spectacularly, if this came to light! Especially if this was found to be policy or normal.

This reminds me of a story I heard years ago. A large department store in America employed someone who's job was to take the blame whenever a customer had a complaint. He would be called in, admit it was his fault, and be fired on the spot, as he had already been given previous warnings. He was fired several times a day. Customers were either pleased that someone was punished, or would plead that that problem did not justify someone loosing their job. (Or perhaps I dreamt this story).
wirral_cyclist
Posts: 1024
Joined: 17 May 2010, 9:25pm
Location: Wirral Merseyside

Re: Worth Making A complaint

Post by wirral_cyclist »

^^ was a man in a Japanese store according to Clive James back when he had a show - ruse was rumbled when a customer complained twice and same bloke was wheeled in 2nd time to be sacked.
Flinders
Posts: 3023
Joined: 10 Mar 2009, 6:47pm

Re: Worth Making A complaint

Post by Flinders »

basingstoke123 wrote:
bigjim wrote:There are a couple of bus drivers ride with our club. They tell me that nothing ever comes of this. The drivers are not disciplined in any way. I got a reply from the local bus company that the driver would be sent back to training school. Evidently it's a load of crap to keep us quiet.

But claiming action was taken, when nothing was actually done, could backfire spectacularly, if this came to light! Especially if this was found to be policy or normal.

This reminds me of a story I heard years ago. A large department store in America employed someone who's job was to take the blame whenever a customer had a complaint. He would be called in, admit it was his fault, and be fired on the spot, as he had already been given previous warnings. He was fired several times a day. Customers were either pleased that someone was punished, or would plead that that problem did not justify someone loosing their job. (Or perhaps I dreamt this story).


When I had occasion to ring a firm about some truly appalling driving, I was fairly nice about it, simply suggesting that they maybe should be doing more training and supervision of their drivers, and should ask themselves whether they put their drivers under too much pressure.
I also made the point that should there ever be an incident involving one of their drivers in the future, I was sure their insurance company would be interested to hear both about my report to them and what steps they had taken as a result.....
pliptrot
Posts: 705
Joined: 12 Jan 2007, 2:50am

Re: Worth Making A complaint

Post by pliptrot »

This thread has taken an odd turn; there can be no value in sacking anyone over such issues, and I cannot imagine what sort of mindset someone must have to derive any satisfaction from such action. What sort of management would plan to demonstrate a dismissal -real or otherwise- to a complainant as any sort of solution? A sacked bus driver means a new bus driver (i.e. inexperienced) on the road. And, on a personal note, I would be horrified to think I was any way involved in such action - a complaint would lead to better training, I would hope. When we do wrong, we need to learn from it. Going to the job centre won't help in that respect.
Flinders
Posts: 3023
Joined: 10 Mar 2009, 6:47pm

Re: Worth Making A complaint

Post by Flinders »

It depends on what has happened. If a driver was driving like a lunatic and shouting abuse, and then stopped and assaulted someone, I can't see any company feeling it would be safe or right to keep them on.
But in most cases when an employee does something wrong, you have to look at the whole system behind it - management, training, supervision, targets, etc. If something is wrong there, merely punishing the driver may not be fair or effective. And also if there is something wrong in those areas, it may be causing other drivers to drive badly.
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