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Original poster

WWYD Bus took a detour

163 replies

SandyY2K · 09/05/2018 00:42

I was just wondering WWYD in this situation. Just seeing if it's the same as my thought process.

DD was coming home on the bus, when the driver took a wrong turn. There was no diversion of any sort. He said absolutely nothing to the passengers by way of an explanation or apology and got himself back on route by turning round. DD got the reg number when she got off.

Unfortunately this caused a massive delay as the bus then got stuck in traffic...resulting in DD being late /missing a private lesson, which the tutor (not unreasonably) wanted payment for.

For clarity, I have no issue with the tutor and she's been paid.

WWYD in relation to the bus detour?

OP posts:
IamaBluebird · 09/05/2018 09:51

Well Op you can accept that this was just one of life's little bumps in the road. People make mistakes thankfully all you lost was a lesson and it's cost.
Or you can write letters and complain. I'd follow the route of telling your daughter that mistakes happen sometimes and leave it at that.

Glumglowworm · 09/05/2018 09:52

YABU

my train company only ever compensates people the cost of the ticket, they wouldn’t pay for the cost of missed lessons so you may be out of luck there

Last year I was on a bus that was delayed because a car pulled out in front of it and a lady on the bus was injured in the resulting emergency stop. No one could’ve predicted it, everyone on the bus had places to be, nobody complained because we’re not dicks.

Glumglowworm · 09/05/2018 09:53

Should’ve said “my local train company” not mine, I don’t own it

fannyfelcher · 09/05/2018 09:53

And when I said the drivers are given a route, very often they are given a map, a bus, a route number and told " go on, you will know it off by heart by the end of the day".

And green road tracks all the buses, this stops them being wasted, having fuel wasted, keeps track of times etc as well as helps to prevent them being stolen/seized by no gooders

Sofabitch · 09/05/2018 10:00

bus drivers get shitty deals, crappy contracts, crappy hours, expected to learn routes at the last minutes and know 30/34 routes off by heart. and often sacked over the smallest things.

YABU

Sofabitch · 09/05/2018 10:03

If he doesn't know his route.
He needs further training.

if only it worked like this, they get 2 weeks at the beginning to ride along with other drivers.. impossible to learn all the routes

DGRossetti · 09/05/2018 10:08

That's not caused by buses taking the wrong route.

So there's a right route that takes a double decker under a low bridge ?
Well I learn everyday. Hmm

WorraLiberty · 09/05/2018 10:15

Are you deliberately misunderstanding the point there DGRossetti?

Of course those weren't caused by the bus driver taking the wrong route.

The cause was the bus driver, driving under a bridge that was far too low for the bus Confused

How they came to be there is irrelevant.

MyOtherUsernameisaPun · 09/05/2018 10:15

I don't really get the mindset of people who want compensation for every minor mistake. Everyone makes mistakes, it's life, it's annoying but it happens rarely. Honestly, just get over it! These things happen!

DontMakeMeShushYou · 09/05/2018 10:16

So there's a right route that takes a double decker under a low bridge ?
Well I learn everyday.

Well you clearly don't learn much if that's what you think I'm saying.

The wrong route may lead to a bridge that's too low. That in itself would not cause an accident. An accident with such a bridge would only be caused if the driver also failed to look at the signs on the bridge, or failed to remember that they were driving a double decker.

HTH

PuppyMonkey · 09/05/2018 10:24

(Have I missed how much the lesson was?)

Dungeondragon15 · 09/05/2018 10:30

Buses are sometimes late and whether or not it was due to driver error and am sure that you won't be able to claim compensation. Even if there wouldn't be normally be traffic on that part of the route there could have been traffic early on. There is also the chance that an accident could cause traffic on any part of the route. They will have it written into their terms and conditions. If she is getting the bus to a lesson she will just have to make sure she leaves in plenty of time and you will have to accept that if she is late you will lose the money.

Dungeondragon15 · 09/05/2018 10:33

The wrong route may lead to a bridge that's too low. That in itself would not cause an accident. An accident with such a bridge would only be caused if the driver also failed to look at the signs on the bridge, or failed to remember that they were driving a double decker.

Yes, they have to take the wrong route and than not notice that they have done it or notice the signs and low bridge. I thought OP would be complaining about that scenario not that the bus was late.

Pikehau · 09/05/2018 10:34

IT was an error a mistake we are human.

What’s with the “I am owed” something attitude?

Huge empathy deficit in the world right now. So sad

LadyBusDriver · 09/05/2018 10:39

@DGRossetti
Those buses under bridges were a case of bad driving - no decent bus driver would continue driving under a bridge once they saw the height - we have a specific bridge training day for this reason!

Yes - bus drivers don't drive the same routes at all, it's usually two different routes in a day, one in the first half, then you have your break and then a different route after your break. So each driver will drive a minimum of 10 different routes in a regular work week. (Some shifts even have 3 different routes on them!)

There is usually a group of roughly 6-8 routes that each driver is paid to learn but a lot of the drivers will learn all the routes off their own back as it makes shift swapping a lot easier and that can be up to 40 routes in a big city.

InfamyInfamyInForMe · 09/05/2018 10:40

DontMakeMeShushYou

Grin

As it happens, I know of one of the bridges under discussion, and I can assure you it catches out far more HGVs and large vans. IIRC it hasn't got any bus drivers caught out for years now.

Perhaps a bit of opprobrium could be spared for the other drivers? The drivers who slavishly follow their sat nav's directions, whatever the signage in RL says, eh?

Dungeondragon15 · 09/05/2018 10:41

That's not caused by buses taking the wrong route. That's caused by drivers not looking where they are going or remembering the size of their vehicles.

It is more likely to happen if they on the wrong route though as unless they are new to the job it could be that they are not concentrating. I would certainly report it and leave it to the bus company to decide whether it is a case of the driver not paying attention or just a driver who has not learned the correct routes yet. The former is quite frightening.

PretABoire · 09/05/2018 10:41

From a contractual point of view.... the agreement with the bus company is that your fare will enable you to be transported from A to B. Even if they were 40 minutes late arriving at B, your daughter still received that transport as agreed. I have never, ever seen a policy which promises the bus will run to schedule. Even with train delays, don't they need to be 2 hours late before you can even get a refund on the ticket cost? The bus company certainly never agreed to ensure your daughter makes it to her lesson on time. You are not even out of pocket, you were paying for the lesson anyway. No additional costs have actually been incurred.

So what would I do? Nothing...

OreoMini · 09/05/2018 10:42

Fuck sake! He took a wrong turn. It was an accident. Get over it

InfamyInfamyInForMe · 09/05/2018 10:48

DGRossetti

Point of clarification. Your youtube video is a video of Railtrack's staged demonstration in 2007. That is not genuine bad driving- it is stunt driving done to publicise the dangers of low bridges.

www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/1165235.The_day_a_bus_crashed_into_UK_s_most_bashed_bridge/

lhastingsmua · 09/05/2018 10:49

OP you sound like one of those losers that are just fishing to get something (eg ‘compensation’). Is compensation really warranted here? It’s not that serious. The bus fare perhaps but not the cost of the lesson!

You mention TFL, i travel on the tube/southern rail daily communting to work. Delays happen all the time! Why are you acting like this is a new concept? If you travel on public transport, especially in london, expect delays and and be prepared for a disruption to your plans as you can easily can get held up for a multitude of reasons both in and out of the driver’s control. It’s annoying but doesn’t warrant anything further than the bus fare as far as financial recompense goes. If I’m late to work, i wouldn’t expect the operating company to pay my missed wages etc. It’s just public transport for you - it’s known to be shit and unreliable for a reason

lottiegarbanzo · 09/05/2018 10:50

Train companies give out compensation for any delay over half an hour. More if over an hour. Their targets and contracts will be different from bus companies' though.

DontMakeMeShushYou · 09/05/2018 10:51

As it happens, I know of one of the bridges under discussion, and I can assure you it catches out far more HGVs and large vans. IIRC it hasn't got any bus drivers caught out for years now.

Indeed!

The video DGRossetti posted of the bus crashing into the bridge in Swindon was a test, set up to show what happens when you drive a double decker into a low bridge.

InfamyInfamyInForMe · 09/05/2018 10:54

The video DGRossetti posted of the bus crashing into the bridge in Swindon was a test, set up to show what happens when you drive a double decker into a low bridge.

Heh, cross post. And the vans continue to crash into it anyway. Grin

changemyname1 · 09/05/2018 10:55

Good job your DD wasn't a passenger on DS bus once, the driver was having a very bad day.
They got on the motorway, big mistake as they just sat in traffic, pulled into the services as the teens had been on the bus for a long time and some needed the loos.
The driver then left about 10 people stranded there and wouldn't stop despite the others shouting at him about the 10.
He didn't get to the official stops just roughly near them, finally instead off getting to the last stop around 6.40 it was 8.20 pm.

Now that deserved an irate call to the college the next morning.