{"id":416,"date":"2012-06-10T13:02:23","date_gmt":"2012-06-10T13:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.happycyclist.org\/?p=416"},"modified":"2012-06-10T13:02:23","modified_gmt":"2012-06-10T13:02:23","slug":"arriva-bus-companys-cavalier-attitude","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/happycyclist.grahamecooper.com\/?p=416","title":{"rendered":"Arriva Bus Company’s Cavalier Attitude"},"content":{"rendered":"

[See also this later article about another incident I reported in 2015<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

On 2nd May, I wrote to Arriva to complain about the driving of one of their bus drivers on 23rd April 2012. Yesterday, after speaking to them on the phone four times in the interim, I finally received a written reply. I will put the reply here first, and then have a look back at the incident to consider the quality of their investigation and response:<\/p>\n

ARRIVA<\/em>
\nCustomer Services, 487 Dunstable Road, Luton, Bedfordshire, LU4 EDS<\/em>
\nCustomer Services 0844 800 4411<\/em><\/p>\n

Dear ********<\/em><\/p>\n

I am writing further to your communication with Arriva on 2nd May 2012 regarding the incident you experienced with a route 538 bus service.<\/em><\/p>\n

I can confirm that your comments have been forwarded to the manager of the Bolton garage and he has completed his investigation and reported his findings back to me.<\/em><\/p>\n

The manager has stated that he has viewed the vehicle CCTV from the nearside camera and this shows the bus to be well clear of the cyclist which we believe to be you as it overtakes, you would have been aware the bus was overtaking.<\/em><\/p>\n

In the managers opinion you should not have moved to the centre lane until the bus had completed overtaking you. However he does accept from our CCTV that we cannot judge the speed of the bike.<\/em><\/p>\n

The footage on U Tube appears that the bus does cut you up and he presume this was from an off side head mounted camera, the footage therefore is only from one angle whereas the nearside bus camera shows there was a safe distance from the bike.<\/em><\/p>\n

The driver has reported that he did make a comment towards you and therefore the driver has had a driving assessment, we continue to monitor our drivers with driving standards officers as well as covertly.<\/em><\/p>\n

I am sorry to learn that you have had cause to complain about our bus service and offer my sincere apologies for the distress this has caused. We aim to provide a reliable and best possible service for our customers and I am sorry that we have been unable to do so on this occasion.<\/em><\/p>\n

Please do not hesitate to contact the Customer Service team should you encounter further problems\u2018<\/em><\/p>\n

Yours sincerely<\/em><\/p>\n

OK, so here is the video of the incident, which I posted on YouTube:<\/p>\n