AIBU to complain after a bus driver shouted at me and my children?

Oh gtfo of here with this nonsense! Im sure she knows her children well enough to know they wouldn’t have said anything rude to him first. He was clearly pissed off because they had got on the damn bus altogether. If they had said anything rude, the driver would’ve told her what they said. The dick was clearly having a bad day and took it out on a woman and her children, also, people who behave like this wouldn't dare speak to a 6ft body builder this way, so that in itself is a form of bullying.

She let her children wander onto the bus, so what?! My 12 & 13 year olds take a bus by themselves often, also, when he pulled up to the stop he would’ve likely have seen that they were all together. Regardless of any of this, he absolutely shouldn’t have spoken to them like it.

The weather is hot. Everyone is fed up. Just let it be.

"Yes complain about him"
And that is how you would be nicer to your fellow human beings. Is it? 😂😂

Or had an early start on the vino 😆😂

I think they are all on a massive wind up at this point - every criticism of the OP and her children are becoming more and more unhinged with every post and it is the school holidays after all .

Are you not well? You've a very big mouth for somebody that wasn't on that bus! You are like the bus driver, a miserable person who has no happiness except jumping in to bully people? How can you attack people and call their kids names when you've never even met them? You are skin crawlingly horrible.

Are you all there? She didn't make a fuss at all! You and the driver are two of a kind, you enjoy tearing strips off people and justify your need to bully by making up anger fuelled fake versions of what you think you happened because you just need to rage at somebody and any innocent victim will do. You accuse the OP of making a performance! Look at the state of your melodramatic rant!

You are paying his wages, directly or indirectly. As you are his customer he should treat you with the deference his position indicates. He should be sacked.

Not at 14 they need an Oyster card and that is their “ticket”

Totally agree he sounds like an aggressive bully who would probably be to scared to talk to a man like that. There is absolutely no excuse for shouting at anyone let alone talking to another passenger about them. Imagine if everyone who worked with the public acted like that.

I would absolutely complain. What a prick! Overheated??!! 😆😂😆

You apologised and he was a miserable git, let it go, you were the better person.

This happened to me in London, was told kids are free for August yet the driver refused to let my son on and told us to get off the bus, he was shouting and being aggressive and yes I did complain to tfl. I tried to explain to him about the scheme but he wouldn’t listen and said there was no such thing.

I travel by public transport a lot. Most bus drivers are very pleasant to me and other people like me but I have witnessed plenty of incidents where youngsters are treated poorly by bus drivers. On one occasion a group of teens in school uniform got on the bus chatting and laughing together, swiped their Oyster cards and went to sit down. The driver shouted at them telling them that they had to get off because they were ‘unruly’. The teens were calm and asked what they had done wrong; he just repeated he wanted them off his bus and turned the engine off and said he refused to move until they got off. Lots of older people at the front all turned to one another complaining about ‘kids today’ . To my eternal shame I didn’t say anything in their defence and the teens got off.
My son used to get a bus to school which was a ‘school service’ repeatedly one particular driver would drive past the stop not picking the kids up who were waiting. On more than one occasion I drove to the bus stop and picked him and any other kids up that wanted a lift and dropped them to school. This was the only bus that went there and it was about an hour’s walk (my ds has T1 diabetes so that really wasn’t an option first thing in the morning). I would usually pass the bus on the way.
Some people are just in the wrong jobs and forget that they were young once. I wonder how they would feel if their children/grandchildren were treated like this.

I really question whether someone who becomes so aggressive over a ticket mistake or perceived slight is fit for the job. How would they cope with a real serious situation if they react like that over those things?

He was unfair and being hot and tired isn’t an excuse for rudeness. That said, complaining does seem to have become a national pastime, and very often isn’t necessary or reasonable.

Agree

If your kids just got on and walked past him without trying to pay or saying anyting then I would say they were initially rude and he reacted with a similar level of rudeness to them.

So I would chalk it up to a lesson learned and get on with my life.

He was rude put in a complaint op.
I rarely use buses either.
Years ago I got on the bus with my newborn, paid and went to sit down when the driver shouted at me to "get back here" went back and she shouted at me to look at my ticket I looked and asked what was wrong. She just kept shouting "look! Look at your ticket!" Repeatedly.I asked if I was short and she shouted that i was 20p short. Why not just say that instead of shouting for several minutes straight? Other passengers asked if I was ok because I was on the verge of tears.

So sorry OP. That’s terrible.
I can’t drive for medical reasons and sadly there are some truly awful bus drivers. It’s interesting that I experienced either directly or indirectly abusive behaviour very often outside of London, but in London where drivers are better paid (so presumably a better pool to choose from or maybe just more cheerful about doing their jobs!) I’ve only seen poor behaviour a very small number of times.

Part of the problem here seems to be the inconsistency of approach by different drivers. If free tickets are required for children, all drivers should apply this consistently, otherwise no wonder passengers end up confused.

14 year old kids in London need an oyster card to travel free

I think some people are being really hard on you here OP. If anything you were too nice to this rude and aggressive bus driver. Personally I'd complain, because if he was like this with you then he'll be nasty to others too. You might not know the outcome, but if enough people complain about him he might be forced to change his ways. And let's all stop blaming bad behaviour on work conditions. I've worked in a busy A+E and never felt it necessary or helpful to be rude to people.

I think the bus driver is on mumsnet.

😂