to not want to be held hostage by a bus driver?

[LeftMyRidingCropInTheMortuary]

On the bus this morning. Gridlocked with other buses by the time we get to city centre. We are about 3 feet from the bus stop and stuck. About 15 of us want off. We wait ten mins then I ask the driver to let me off. He refuses as he's not allowed to open doors btween stops. And tells me if I open door he will call police.

Surely he HAS to let me off if I insist otherwise he is holding me hostage? After all I'm a grown up and can choose what risks to take.

3 ft away is so very close. Maybe they will extend the bus stop while the work is going on.

Tbh in my experience bus drivers tend to pick and choose when to "follow the rules" in this respect, or at least they do where I live. Half of them don't even know what their ticket prices are so I tend to automatically doubt when they say they're not allowed to do something that every other bus driver seems to have no issues with. but can't honestly say this particular issue has ever cropped up for me.

There's always the door opening buttons if you're desperate, don't forget that.

It's really unfair to call someone a jobsworth for simply following rules.
If you risked a disciplinary would you break rules because i sure as hell wouldn't! ( i was called a jobsworth for having to stick to rules in retail however we faced warnings if we didn't stick to them).

Bit odd, is it really the rules? In my town the buses stop everywhere and anywhere to let passengers off - nice for them obviously but flipping annoying for other drivers behind them.

Wonder if the receptionist would have accepted this as a reason for being late if the OP had happened to have been on her way to a doctors appointment.

Well, here's another side to the story girls..

my friends dh is a bus driver, he recently got disciplined at work over this...he was driving along when a teenage girl ran up to the driver and asked to be let off between stops as she had missed her stop and was panicking, so the driver pulled in between stops to let her off....she got off and the driver was just pulling away to join the traffic when a police car pulled in front of him and a police man got out and said "what do you think you're doing, stopping between stops?", the police man wouldnt listen to his excuse and he gave him a warning of some sort (don't know what exactly) and a few days later the bus driver was pulled up by his manager who got a report from the police about what happened....

SO! the moral of the story op is the driver was just doing his job, he wasn't holding you or anyone else hostage, he was doing his job!!

It all sounds very dramatic. But makes a change from a folding pram fiasco.

There are presumably reasons behind the driver's actions.

I was on a bus in London last week
We had been stuck in stationary traffic for 15 minutes and a girl asked the bus driver to open the doors because she was late, after a minute he did open the doors.
Everyone on the bus got off, including me. (Because she were closer to where I needed to be than the stop was)
Then the traffic started moving as soon as we had crossed the road

They only stop at official bus stops here. I have hardly ever seen them open the doors when not at an actual stop except in the last couple of weeks when the main bus stop was suspended due to major roadworks.

So, after rather more thought, I would no longer say he was being a jobsworth.

Maybe some bus companies and their insurers are stricter on the rules re door opening than others.

No real point being stroppy to the driver about it. His job is to drive, implement the rules and keep stroppy passengers in check.

I was kept on a bus for an hour in traffic that was 100 ft from my front door. I begged to get off and walk, driver had none of it. It's kind of ironic that round here they stop miles from the actual bus stop and expect you to walk to them and yet when you want to get off, its all NO! RULES!

I would just press the emergency open button next time, I am too pregnant to hold a piss in for an hour.

The poor driver was only doing his job.

I worked as a professional driver and some years ago was told I couldn't carry passengers.

I was sad to hear that I couldn't pick up " platers" ( people who collect and deliver vehicles) because these people provided great company esp on 300 mile journeys to Scotland.

Fact is bus companies have secret shoppers too, I he/she were to get caught letting you off on a non designated place they would be sacked; end of.

I wish we could turn the clock back.

Do you not have rules in your job OP?

It really is against the rules. Occasionally, at their discretion, drivers let you off in between stops, subject to consideration of the traffic conditions and whether they'll get disciplined for it later.

We are talking about stopping a dirty great vehicle in a non-designated place on the highways, after all.

I can understand why the rules are in place but given the driver is an actual functioning person with a real brain you'd have thought some discretion was allowed - like, for example, where the bus had been completely stationary for 10 minutes and the stop was in sight....

YANBU to want to be allowed off in these circs but being 'held hostage' is a slightly OTT description.

He was being a so called "jobsworth", but in the true meaning of the word, in that it probably was more than his job was worth, in that he could lose his job over it or face disciplinary, which is a situation created by his employers, or his insurers, or the general public. Very frustrating, but a real situation where there are potentially no winners.

I think the OP has been very fair in that she has taken on board the points made by posters re insurers, t&c's, and the legal definition of hostage (emergency doors etc)

Its just one of those frustrating situations where you are damned if you do and damned if you don't, and I totally get what the OP is saying about the driver enjoying it (obviously we don't know if this was really the case or her perception - but situations where staff members who have had enough of the general public and are becoming jaded can sometimes take on this kind of stance where they hold on to the power they do have. That may not be a popular view on here but it does exist).

TurnofftheTV - yes, there are rules in my job but I would get in trouble if I didn't use my initiative as well. They pay me for my brains and skills, not to be a robot.

Thanks Tatty. You've got it bang-on.

On these buses though, there's not a button to press, you have to physically pull the door using the handle.

I'm not normally a cow, btw, esp re the buses round 'ere. I was having a great chat with a driver just last week whilst having to stand when all seats were taken. (Don't worry, I wasn't distracting him!) And just the other day, I paid for someone to get on the bus who didn't have any change and who was distressed.

What an utterly out of proportion, ridiculous excuse. Of course the risk of an employment disciplinary doesn't justify holding someone effectively captive for a period against their will! In other words, if the passenger kicks up a big enough fuss, they should be let out, and that should be sufficient justification against any disciplinary procedure. Also very shaky ground for a bus company which causes an anxiety attack/makes someone late for work or an appointment by doing this. Especially if their policies are in writing somewhere.

I said as much to a jobsworth driver once in a similar position, and he silently opened the doors and let me out. I have better things to do than be held captive on buses, such as ensuring I'm not late for my own job and ending up facing very genuine disciplinary procedures. The whole point of buses is to transport people, not imprison them!

This makes me nostalgic for the old route masters. It was great being able to get off between bus stops rather than sailing past your destination and having to walk back.

scremersford, have you deliberately not read the thread?

or are you just full of your own importance?

Thank you, Scremersford! Good point about them transporting you, not imprisoning you.

I mean, what if it had been another 10mins and I DID start needing to pee/have a panic attack. The bus was packed and hot and it was very unpleasant. I kept thinking how I would ever get out if something went wrong.

It's interesting to see the quite different views people have on this matter.

You chose to remain on the bus by not opening the doors, albeit you were likely scared into this with his rather odd "I'm telling on you if you do!" spiel.

Just open them and get off, you aren't committing a crime in doing so.

ssd scremersford, have you deliberately not read the thread?

No, I'm saying that if they wish to hold me against my will, a bus company will have a lot more than a bloody disciplinary hearing to worry about.

or are you just full of your own importance?

Whether or not that makes me full of my own importance is neither here nor there. Everyone has the right not be falsely imprisoned, and the law agrees. And that's a damned sight more important than a bus company's inability to obey the law, or reading a thread.

I don't have a view on this, I don't really care whether you think you were taken hostage or not, I'm just trying to tell you that if the police catch the driver letting people off between stops, his job can be on the line.

I can imagine that colours his view, somewhat...and the thought of losing his job V pissing off a few passengers might explain why he did what he did.

ECHR Article 5 states "No one shall be deprived of his liberty except in the following cases and in accordance with a procedure prescribed by law". The listed grounds certainly do not include the right of bus companies to detain their passengers against their will between stops!

Screamers you weren't being held against your will. You were free to open the doors and leave at any time, you consciously chose not to leave.