Bus complaint letter and response

[jefmcg]

I wrote:
Subject: Complaint of a dangerous close pass of a cyclist, Route 81 towards Slough
Date: Thu, 09 Mar 2017
To: CONTACTUS@TFL.GOV.UK
<bus company is United, but their website directs complaints to TFL>
On Tuesday 7 March at 4.34 pm, I was cycling west along Bath Rd heading into the village of Poyle. As I was heading up the incline of the bridge that crosses over the M25 (just after the Moor Bridge bus stop), a double decker passed me at such speed and closeness that I was buffeted by the air turbulence and literally frightened to tears by the danger I was put in.

As you can see from this Google Maps link, the bridge is fairly narrow and is topped a blind crest. There is not room for a bus to safely pass a cyclist without crossing the double lines, which could put both of us as well as an oncoming vehicle in danger. I can’t tell you if the bus crossed the centre line as I was too focussed on my own danger.

Despite his/her apparent hurry to pass me, I kept pace with the bus for the following 3.5 km until our routes diverged. I was able to get the licence place, YX12 FOA (though it may be YX12 FAO). It was 81 bus heading west, and would have arrived in Slough around 4.55-5.00pm on Tuesday the 7 March, 2017.

I’ve extracted the part of my GPS record of the trip to show the section where I was keeping pace with the bus, which you can see here, if that is useful in identifying the vehicle and hence the driver.

Can you please contact the driver and remind him or her that cyclists need 1.5m of space when passing at speed, and that they shouldn’t overtake any vehicle approaching a blind crest?

Please reply to let me know what action you have taken.

Thank you

They replied:

Subject: (Route 81) Poor driving
Date: Sun, 12 Mar 2017

Dear <me>

Thank you for your feedback form of 10 March about the poor driving from a bus driver on route 81, traveling towards Slough.

I’m sorry to hear that you experienced the hazardous situation that you described and can understand the frustration this caused you, especially as you were adhering to the correct cycling procedures.

Poor driving or driving without due care is simply unacceptable. I’ve made London United, the company that runs this route for us, aware of the speeding issues you described. With the information you’ve provided, the bus company will be able to identify the driver and will be able to take appropriate action to address the driver’s performance.

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. They’re trained to obtain the Category D entitlement on their driving licence. This is required to operate passenger carrying vehicles. Also, whilst receiving vocational training, drivers must then qualify for the Certificate of Professional Competence.

We continue to monitor driving performance, to ensure that high standards are followed and maintained. 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.

Once again, I can assure you that this matter will be dealt with.

Thanks again for contacting us. If there is anything else we can help you with, please reply to this email. Alternatively, you can call us on 0343 222 1234 and we’ll be happy to help you.

Kind regards

Craig <Surname>

Really just shared this on an FYI basis, but if you have any comments or suggestion that would be welcome.

I am going to write back and make clear that the real problem wasn't the speed but the closeness, as I am sure the bus wasn't breaking the speed limit. Beyond that, I don't think there is any further I should or even could take this.

(yes, and obviously I should have been in primary, so you don't need to lecture me on road positioning)

 

[classic33]

Seems to be the standard reply letter, to me.

If they have the route, they'll know who was driving before they pass it back to London United to deal with.

 

[raleighnut]

Got to agree Classic, seems a standard 'fob off' letter to me too in that it doesn't address the fault issue.

 

[Bazzer]

May be I am I am still sleepy, but my interpretation of the response was that they were commenting about generally unacceptable driving standards. Not sure what else they are likely to do at this stage, without some other evidence. I think even if you had a helmet cam and had sent the recording with your letter, the response is likely to be only a little less neutral until they looked into the matter.

 

[Welsh wheels]

I had a very close pass from a bus the other day and considering reporting it but didn't get round to it. I overtook him later at a bus stop and pulled off waiting until he had passed me again as I didn't want to subject myself to him again. As others have said, it looks like a very scripted letter. From my experience of replies to letters of complaint, it seems that most companies are very careful to not admit fault of any kind on their part. Notice how here most of the letter is spent telling you how amazing their driver training is instead of really addressing the fact that one of their drivers put you in a dangerous situation.

 

[Drago]

On a related note I recently witnessed an Eddie Stobart 40 or 44 tonne class truck (I don't know which, didn't count the axles) contravene a 7.5 tonne weight limit.

I duly grassed up the driver to his employers and received a vanilla pretty much standard reply, much like then one above.

I therefore passed my dash cam footage to the police, and we'll see if they make a more meaningful response when the prosecution of their driver reaches the local press.

 

[raleighnut]

On a related note I recently witnessed an Eddie Stobart 40 or 44 tonne class truck (I don't know which, didn't count the axles) contravene a 7.5 tonne weight limit.

I duly grassed up the driver to his employers and received a vanilla pretty much standard reply, much like then one above.

I therefore passed my dash cam footage to the police, and we'll see if they make a more meaningful response when the prosecution of their driver reaches the local press.

10-1 he'll play the 'access' card.

 

[Drago]

He can't, fortunately, it's a 1/4 miles stretch, a link road, with no properties coming off it, common land one side, farm land on the other. There are no properties within the restricted zone for him to access.

He would have been heading to Stobarts warehouse on a nearby industrial estate, and his shortcut saved him about 10 minutes.

 

[ufkacbln]

This sis the reason I never mention head cam footage in the first complaint

Let them write the letter fobbing you off, denying it happened or where the driver states it was all your fault......

Then send in the camera footage and ask them to explain their response

 

[Incontinentia Buttocks]

Sounds like a standard proforma reply.

 

[PhilDawson8270]

Seems to be the standard reply letter, to me.

What's worrying is that a bus service has a "standard" letter for atrocious driving.

 

[classic33]

May be I am I am still sleepy, but my interpretation of the response was that they were commenting about generally unacceptable driving standards. Not sure what else they are likely to do at this stage, without some other evidence. I think even if you had a helmet cam and had sent the recording with your letter, the response is likely to be only a little less neutral until they looked into the matter.

The bus/vehicle in question is fitted with front, rear and side mounted cameras.

Calibrated as collision cameras, making distance easy to work out.

 

[classic33]

What's worrying is that a bus service has a "standard" letter for atrocious driving.

Most do. As do some local councils, for their mini-bus services.

 

[PhilDawson8270]

Most do. As do some local councils, for their mini-bus services.

The point I was making, was that this must be a standard enough incident for them to have a standard response.

Yet still they do nothing to sort it.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

They replied:

Subject: (Route 81) Poor driving
Date: Sun, 12 Mar 2017

Dear <me>

Thank you for your feedback form of 10 March about the poor driving from a bus driver on route 81, traveling towards Slough.

I’m sorry to hear that you experienced the hazardous situation that you described <snipped>...

That's a bog standard waffle response that concedes nothing and tells you nothing. Since a very near collision with a local bus (and the company's similar response, with some lies thrown in), my approach with incidents like this is to copy my complaint to the police and the area Traffic Commissioner. The bus company is likely to be more worried about possible action from the TC than the police.