Launching a complaint against a bus driver - is it worth it?

vpnikolov

Hey guys,

I am looking for opinion and guidance on how to proceed.

This morning I was cycling towards our usual club meeting point in Putney. My route goes through Putney Bridge as I live in Fulham. I was cycling down Fulham Palace Road and entered the roundabout southbound (Fulham Palace Road/Fulham Road). A bus (Route 14) was coming in from Fulham Road (obviously no priority over me as I was in the roundabout). I was just in front of him and he did not brake at all to wait for me, almost hit me from the rear - I had to sprint to avoid an impact. He was literally centimetres away from hitting me and throwing me under the bus. Now... I have the bus number, route number and time that it happened. Unfortunately I could not record his driver number.

My question is... is it worth bothering launching a formal complaint? I got scared to death by a reckless driver who could have killed me. I am sure the CCTV cameras on the bus caught it all, but will TfL even bother...

Man Of Lard

Other than the time to register the complaint, what do you have to lose?

Even if action isn't taken against him this time, next time they'll see the previous complaint on file (assuming they record such feedback like they should - in case they want to fire him for some other reason later... y'know standard HR practice, gather ammunition all the time on everybody)

vpnikolov

You are right, time is the only thing I have to lose. Well I did lose it already. Complaint is submitted. I have requested CCTV footage from the bus as well. Will keep the topic updated once I hear anything from TfL.

tangled_metal

Good on you. I had a bus that kept ignoring my existence on my bike. The driver would overtake closely but pull in as if I I had been stationary not a 15mph cyclist. The reason he pulled in was the traffic island just ahead. We both went through that constriction together which was scary since the kerb was a high one,

Anyway after the third or fourth encounter exactly the same with the same bus at the same time with I assume the same duvet I changed the time I set off on my commute. It was at the start of my ride so I could check the bus times and 10 minutes later got me between buses. I still regret not reporting the driver. He's probably still driving now.

Not my only trouble with local bus drivers you'd think I'd learn and report them.

pastryboy

I once complained about a bus driver just for being downright rude (nothing to do with cycling).

Company said they would have a word with him so nothing to lose as far as I'm concerned.

vpnikolov

This is the response I received. Although it does look like a standard template, at least it sounds reassuring that some action will be taken. I have now requested the CCTV footage from Go Ahead.

Dear Mr ************

Thanks for your feedback form of ****** about the poor driving standards of a bus driver on route ******* at Fulham Palace Road.

I’m sorry for the experience you went through

, and I can only imagine how terrifying must have been for you. Driving without due care is simply unacceptable. It’s a large vehicle and the driver should have made sure area was safe and clear before manoeuvring.
I’ve therefore passed your complaint to Go Ahead London, The bus operating company that runs this route for us. They’ll now investigate the incident. The driver will be identified and then interviewed by a manager. Afterwards, appropriate steps could be taken to address the behaviour you experienced.

Due to current employee law guidelines, Go Ahead London won't be able to disclose what action is taken against the driver. Please rest assured however, that all complaints are taken seriously, and they’ll take the action they deem necessary against the driver.

We work closely with organisations that represent cyclists, to develop specialist training for our drivers. This makes them more aware of what it’s like to be a cyclist in London. We’ve also introduced ‘Bikeability’ training for bus driver instructors, and events where bus drivers and cyclists swap roles.

The safety of our customers and road users is our highest priority. We go to great lengths to train our bus drivers to very high standards. Every month we carry out over 600 Driver Quality Monitoring surveys. This provides us with technical assessments of their driving skills.　Drivers are assessed on acceleration and braking, as well as the use of mirrors and road positioning.

To obtain CCTV footage, please contact Go Ahead London quoting the reference number above. Their contact details are:

tangled_metal

600 times with an assessor sat in the bus, identified to the driver so he/she can modify their driving. Assessor leaves, driver gets clean bill of health and bus company has no problem. Until the driver has ditched the assessor and goes back to his/her normal , possibly dangerous driving. Answer? Secret assessors monitoring driver or reviewing cctv footage. Catch them at their normal driving.

Why don't they make it known to you what the outcome was of any investigation? Don't have to name anyone or disclose personal information just tell you driver found and warning issued or footage sent to police and driver suspended. Simple facts to show you they've acted on your complaint.

anonymousblackfg

Have done so a few times, got a cut and paste waste of time e-mail, at least in london you go through TfL so some hope in handing out contracts incidents are logged.

indyp

...just come off the phone to a company after a close articulated lorry overtake yesterday - I could have touched it if raised my arm! It wasn't pleasant and in a dangerous place so rang them to raise issue and the person in charge, a driver himself in the past, was very understanding. He's now being called in this evening and talked to about the danger's of not driving safely. So personally, I think it's always worth making a complaint to the company as the person involved will be spoken to and 'may' come away with a different mentally, which hopefully keeps us safer.

Big_Paul

indyP wrote:

I think it's always worth making a complaint to the company as the person involved will be spoken to and 'may' come away with a different mentally, which hopefully keeps us safer.

Worked for companies in the past where complaints about driving were pretty much a source of entertainment and letters of complaint were posted on the notice board as a source of mirth. Unless the cops get involved most likely absolutely nothing will happen.

Our local bus company are spectacularly bad about this kind of thing, no point sending them video evidence because they claim they cannot view the file type. One chap made a complaint, company claimed he had been spoken to, driver nearly killed the same cyclist the next day.

Cyclist then put the footage on youtube, driver gets it pulled for privacy reasons.

No matter how bad our local buses get, the drivers will not be taken to task as at the first sign of a disciplinary, the union threatens industrial action and they cave in. Every Single Time.

fenix

What about that HGV that was pulling caravans and made a punishment pass blaring its horn as it went ?
Loads of bad publicity for the firm and the driver got sacked. There was no excuse in that case. Possibly more clear cut than a lot of incidents.

fat_tail

Why do you think every bus has a sticker at the back that says "Do you want to drive this bus?" ? The attrition rate for bus drivers must be high for very many reasons

veronese68

Big_Paul wrote:

Cyclist then put the footage on youtube, driver gets it pulled for privacy reasons.

How can it be pulled for privacy reasons if it's on a public road?

awavey

Veronese68 wrote:

Big_Paul wrote:

Cyclist then put the footage on youtube, driver gets it pulled for privacy reasons.

How can it be pulled for privacy reasons if it's on a public road?

because youtubes privacy guidelines are more stringent than most countries privacy laws, and if the person appearing in the video files a complaint saying they are uniquely identifiable by image, which debately even just by appearing in the video as the main focus they could be, even before you add bus driver for bus company x on this road in this city etc etc,

Im not even sure anyone actually reviews the videos, theres something like a claimed 300hours of video uploaded per minute on youtube, theyd never cope reviewing everything, so they just get automatically pulled as its simpler and theres no appeal process. Then if you upload the same video again, youtube will claim you are harrassing private individual and block your account.

so lets see where this one ends up :x
http://road.cc/content/news/203813-vide ... ets-mobile

veronese68

awavey wrote:

Veronese68 wrote:

How can it be pulled for privacy reasons if it's on a public road?

because youtubes privacy guidelines are more stringent than most countries privacy laws

Aah, corporate laziness. They can't be bothered to check so just pull the footage.
I was thinking in terms of when some photographers were getting hassled by police in London for taking pictures in public places. Police were saying it was anti terrorism.