Bus driver sacked after being filmed on phone by cyclist

[Essexcyclist]

Just reading the discussion on whether helmet cameras will help in our battle against dangerous drivers and as a coincidence (in Essex yet again!) a cyclist spotted a bus driver on his phone, or device or whatever and sent the film to the police

The video here is pretty conclusive: http://www.essexchronicle.co.uk/VIDEO-S ... story.html

I'm not so sure about this though - a man losing his job even though nobody was hurt. Not really our job is it?

[jezer]

There was an earlier post on this when the bus company said the driver had done nothing wrong. I'm pleased they have admitted their mistake and taken the correct action. Yes, it is our business because other road users are being put at risk by criminal behaviour of this kind

[thirdcrank]

... I'm not so sure about this though - a man losing his job even though nobody was hurt. Not really our job is it?

Why do you think somebody should be hurt before action is taken?

Clearly, it's not anyone's job except the police. Since Anglo-Saxon times, it's been everybody's responsibility to uphold the law and once upon a time, anybody who didn't help catch offenders was likely to be in hot water. That's been watered down to the current situation where the PACE Codes of Practice just pay it mealie-mouthed lip service - something along the lines that this is only a civic duty.

I don't like the idea of anybody losing their job, but I don't like the idea of somebody not paying attention when driving, especially when they are driving a bus.

On jezer's point about the company initially backing him, I suspect that he may have misled them about what he was doing. This is the issue which cunobelin has mentioned before in cases he has reported to employers. Although the drivers of one-man operated buses adjust their ticket machine with each fare stage, afaik, that apparatus is fixed and only needs the press of a button. I've watched them do it many times. I fancy that now it's done by some form of satnav-type device: we have bus stops which can track the position of buses.

[Mick F]

We have a ticket machine thingy on the community bus that I drive a couple of times a month. It goes to sleep and the screen blacks out when the bus is moving and it becomes inoperable. It can only be used when stationary.

Are not all bus ticket machines like that? ......... or if not why not?

[Essexcyclist]

... I'm not so sure about this though - a man losing his job even though nobody was hurt. Not really our job is it?

Why do you think somebody should be hurt before action is taken?

Clearly, it's not anyone's job except the police. Since Anglo-Saxon times, it's been everybody's responsibility to uphold the law and once upon a time, anybody who didn't help catch offenders was likely to be in hot water. That's been watered down to the current situation where the PACE Codes of Practice just pay it mealie-mouthed lip service - something along the lines that this is only a civic duty.

I don't like the idea of anybody losing their job, but I don't like the idea of somebody not paying attention when driving, especially when they are driving a bus.

I was referring more to the company, seems a bit amateurish how they backed him at first, despite seeing the video and now with the media and police involved, they dismiss him.

[[XAP]Bob]

Good.
This kind of thing needs to be stamped out - not only in our passenger vehicle drivers, but in all motor vehicles.

It should be discouraged in all vehicles, and on foot as well - but the dangers presented are rather lower.


Not entirely sure the company had seen the video to start with had they? They had certainly identified the driver...

[stewartpratt]

If you don't stop people using the phone at the wheel - especially the wheel of a particularly large vehicle - before they kill someone then you end up here:

http://roadpeacejusticewatch.wordpress. ... -for-hope/

It's easy not to use a phone when you're driving a bus. You simply don't use the phone. Because you're driving a bus.

[snibgo]

I suppose the company went through a formal process for the sacking. Perhaps this wasn't the first black mark on the driver's record. Or perhaps the company has a zero-tolerance policy.

In any case, I'm happy that he was reported and the company has done the decent thing.

[byegad]

There was an earlier post on this when the bus company said the driver had done nothing wrong. I'm pleased they have admitted their mistake and taken the correct action. Yes, it is our business because other road users are being put at risk by criminal behaviour of this kind

Totally agree and a few more examples like this, with plenty of publicity, are needed to make the point far better than hypothetical fines that are rarely, in relation to the number of daily offences, applied.

[reohn2]

I was referring more to the company, seems a bit amateurish how they backed him at first, despite seeing the video and now with the media and police involved, they dismiss him.

So they had second thoughts and did the right thing,what's wrong with that?

BTW,I agree with others upthread when we(that is citizens of this land) see wrongdoing,it's our duty to report it,if more people did,there'd perhaps be less loonies driving on our roads.

[reohn2]

If you don't stop people using the phone at the wheel - especially the wheel of a particularly large vehicle - before they kill someone then you end up here:

http://roadpeacejusticewatch.wordpress. ... -for-hope/

Disgusting,though not altogether surprising in this sickly land.

It's easy not to use a phone when you're driving a bus. You simply don't use the phone. Because you're driving a bus.

Exactly!

[661-Pete]

I suppose the company went through a formal process for the sacking. Perhaps this wasn't the first black mark on the driver's record.

That is quite probable. My present employers have quite a complex disciplinary procedure running through several stages, it would have to be really gross misconduct to go straight to 'stage four' without any 'previous'. I can recall only one case, in which two employees got into fisticuffs on the shop floor. One of them was fired on the spot, the other was given the option of a final written warning. He declined that, and resigned anyway.

It's possible that this is what happened to the bus driver. No-one wants to continue their career with a heavy caution on their head.

[661-Pete]

If you don't stop people using the phone at the wheel - especially the wheel of a particularly large vehicle - before they kill someone then you end up here:

http://roadpeacejusticewatch.wordpress. ... -for-hope/

Very moving account.

[Geriatrix]

... I'm not so sure about this though - a man losing his job even though nobody was hurt. Not really our job is it?

Why do you think somebody should be hurt before action is taken?

+1

We are social animals and we can't outsource all responsibility for social behaviour to the police. Peer pressure can play a more effective role than policing in changing behaviour because we are all in degrees conformists. Society is everywhere, the police aren't.

[thirdcrank]

I'd can see a difference between a case like this and reporting phone-while-driving offences more generally, although it's only a practical one.

For various reasons, mainly to do with this being a bus, there's been publicity and a message has gone out. I also suspect that there will have been some strong internal messages circulating in this and perhaps other bus companies saying that a repeat would be unacceptable.

If this offence were to be treated as an enforcement priority, the police would be able issue tickets almost as fast as they could fill them in. OTOH, a report from a member of the public, even one supported with headcam footage, would take hours to deal with and might then not end up with sufficient evidence for a prosecution.

IMO, this is a subject where lots of letters to PCC's might have some influence. Or might not.