Rude bus drivers driving me mad (From Croydon Guardian)

Rude bus drivers driving me mad

9:45am Thursday 13th November 2008 in

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I couldn’t agree more with the letter sent in by D Mayle, regarding rude bus drivers.

I have seen for myself the attitude of a lot of drivers towards pensioners.

I know it is the supposed rules that pensioners can travel free only after 9am, but the glee is written all over drivers’ faces when they turf a pensioner off the bus. It’s a shame the drivers are not as brave when it comes to the teenage hooligans who deserve to be turfed off. This behaviour is not imagined, as there are still a few decent drivers, who are very pleasant about it.

On one dark evening, I was left in the rain for nearly an hour, whilst two buses (one straight after the other) went past without stopping. When I phoned TfL to complain, they wanted a description of the driver or the running number.

I couldn’t give them either, as the bus was travelling too fast.

I was given a reference number, but nobody ever got back to me.

When I politely reminded two drivers that it is not a request stop, they were extremely abusive. One told me to “shut up and sit down” and flatly refused to give his driver number to me. He had the last word, as when I got off the bus, he let off his “whooping”

alarm as he sped off. This alarm is only supposed to be used when a driver is being attacked.

It is supposed to be a serious offence to use it for any other reason. I know that it was a direct “up yours” as I had dared to complain.

What is wrong with these people? They are providing a public service, but they seem to think they are something special and they can make the rules as they see fit. I think it is about time they were put in their place. With attitudes like this, no wonder they now need a screen to prevent them from being attacked.

J MCCANN
Croydon