A bus driver filmed by a helmet-cam-equipped cyclist apparently using a mobile phone has been sacked.
According to the Harlow Star, the Roadrunners Coaches vehicle was filmed in the Seymours area of Harlow on September 11. The bus was moving and had passengers on board at the time.
The company initially said its managers believed the driver was holding a ticket module and so would take no action against him.
However, according to a spokeswoman for Roadrunners a later review of the evidence led to a decision to sack the driver, who will not fight the decision.
“He told us that it was a module but he shouldn’t be [holding] that while driving anyway,” she said.
A spokesman for Essex Police said: “Enquiries are continuing and we have served a notice on the company to identify the driver.”
54 thoughts on “Video: Bus driver sacked after being filmed apparently using mobile by helmet-cam cyclist”
So what would happen if
So what would happen if cyclists started giving the coppers footage of ordinary motorists on their phones? If they took it seriously, half the drivers in the country would be getting points, fines, whatever.
nowasps wrote:So what would
Is this a bad thing?
mad_scot_rider wrote:nowasps
Yes, I mean if all cyclists started doing this, what possible consequences could there be? 😕
Feeling more and more like I
Feeling more and more like I should get a helmet cam………
Then again I’d end up contacting the police every time I ride. At the moment I rarely bother as nothing comes of it.
And yet . ..
And yet . .. :
http://www.croydoncyclist.co.uk/new-police-guidelines-for-video-footage/
I keep suggesting that the
I keep suggesting that the police should have bobbies on bikes undercover – the amount of footage they’d get of people using phones, smoking weed, and generally totally disregarding the highway code would make them a fortune at very little expense.
@YorkshireMike
Yes, that
@YorkshireMike
Yes, that would be a good idea, but the flip side is they’d catch a lot of cyclists breezing through red lights and cycling the wrong way up one-way streets.
Carl wrote:@YorkshireMike
So what’s wrong with that? Catching the cyclists’ misdemeanours that is.
To my mind, anyone who breaks the rules themselves forfeits the right to complain about others doing it.
Totally agree with you,
Totally agree with you, Flobble. My irony clearly didn’t come across in my post.
@Hampstead_bandit…I had a similar when I very politely pointed out to a cyclist he was going the wrong way up a one-way street…”f*ck off you w*nker” was the reply. What a great ambassador for cyclists everywhere.
YorkshireMike wrote:I keep
+1
YorkshireMike wrote:I keep
+1
I have often said that if the police issued every regular commuter a goPro with the amount of fixed penalties that they could issue it would pay for the cameras in no time.
So what if they also pick up bike riders behaving illegaly? Equality for all. Let us be quite clear, just as the minority of drivers are fools, so there is a minority of cyclists who are also. But thanks to perception bias you see the bad behaviour and not the good. Hence you don’t ever see a sensible Audi driver…
One of the common gripes that gets levelled at cyclists is that they are all red light jumping and if these members of our community were made to stop at these, just as we want cars out of our ASLs then it might generate more sympathy with our friends in their metal boxes.
Nice link, shocking reading.
Nice link, shocking reading. The overiding impression is that the police simply don’t care unless somebody actually gets smashed.
With this attitude its no surprise that we see cyclists taking action against drivers themselves (stoping them and having strong words etc.) rather than reporting to the police.
Am I the only one who thinks
Am I the only one who thinks it’s a disgrace that this poor man has lost his job? And for what??? This Dave Sherry character must have too much time on his hands if he’s got nothing better to do than go around snitching off people. Very tawdry business if you ask me. 🙁
Rational Dave wrote:Am I the
To be honest, I preferred your earlier work, this now just seems like your heart isn’t in this trolling business.
I’m going to give this a seemingly strict 2 out of 10 in the hope that it’ll spur you on to give your next attempt at a wind up a bit more rice.
Not sure I’m with you. I
Not sure I’m with you. I guess you’re on of the people who think it’s acceptable to ruin a mans life for the sake of a quick ego boost. How sad.
Rational Dave wrote:Am I the
I think you’re really “freespirit”, because there can’t be two such big f*ckwits in the south of England, and I claim my £10.00 😀
Sorry you’ve completey lost
Sorry you’ve completey lost me.. You sound a bit confused.
Rational Dave wrote:Am I the
The driver is an alleged professionally trained driver. He is driving a vehicle with members of the public on it. He therefore has a duty of care to those individuals. I am fed up seeing bus drivers driving one handed (I was taught to keep both hands on the wheel) using mobiles (currently illegal) jumping red lights and their companies not reigning this behaviour in.
As sad as it is to see someone loose their job, we do not know if the driver was already being progressed along the disciplinary route and this was the final straw or if the company treats this behaviour as gross misconduct.
Rational Dave wrote:Am I the
I agree dave – but as long as communter goes home happy and tells his wife what a great guy he is now the worlds a little safer thats all that matters I guess. If cars had cams on how cyclists bad behaviour could you see – probably a lot. Share the road.
Rational Dave wrote:Am I the
No. I’d actually agree with you. I’m not happy at the idea of someone losing their job.
I’m also not happy at the profileration of cameras recording bloody everything, everywhere all the time.
On the other hand it seems like a smart move to have one in your car or on your bike to gather evidence… always assuming your not someone blindly committing a crime.
Ush wrote:Rational Dave
It’s a shame he’s lost his job, but I think there’s only one person to blame for that and it’s not the guy who reported him.
Also IMO the suggestion that it’s a disgrace that he’s been sacked seems to shore up the idea that it’s just one of those little things everyone does and there shouldn’t be any real consequences to it. It implies that this standard of driving is still socially acceptable, and we as a society need to decide whether it is or not. If it isn’t, there need to be significant consequences to doing it until people get it through their heads, same as drink driving.
Chuck wrote:
Also IMO the
Also IMO the suggestion that it’s a disgrace that he’s been sacked seems to shore up the idea that it’s just one of those little things everyone does and there shouldn’t be any real consequences to it. It implies that this standard of driving is still socially acceptable, and we as a society need to decide whether it is or not. If it isn’t, there need to be significant consequences to doing it until people get it through their heads, same as drink driving.[/quote]
+ 1
Chuck wrote:Ush
It’s a shame he’s lost his job, but I think there’s only one person to blame for that and it’s not the guy who reported him.
Also IMO the suggestion that it’s a disgrace that he’s been sacked seems to shore up the idea that it’s just one of those little things everyone does and there shouldn’t be any real consequences to it. It implies that this standard of driving is still socially acceptable, and we as a society need to decide whether it is or not. If it isn’t, there need to be significant consequences to doing it until people get it through their heads, same as drink driving.— Rational Dave
I’d actually agree with all that you said Chuck.
Ush wrote:I’m also not happy
I’m confused. Do you agree with cameras or not?
mbrads72 wrote:Ush wrote:I’m
I’m confused. Do you agree with cameras or not?— Ush
Yes and no.
I think their proliferation is in general bad for society. I don’t like the erosion of relative anonymity in the public sphere.
On the other hand, given this is happening, it’s like any other arms race: you may as well arm yourself.
If I ruled the world, they wouldn’t be allowed for anyone. (Un)fortunately I don’t…
Vocational licence holder and
Vocational licence holder and Conduct Regulations apply to him (use of mobile phones by bus drivers has been illegal since before mobile phones were invented) bus drivers, by law, should only be driving, when bus is in motion, No reading, or talking to anyone without good reason – nem con
True, a bit OTT that he lost
True, a bit OTT that he lost his job; he should have just had his driving licence taken away, that would have been fairer. 😀
Are you trying to be
Are you trying to be deliberately ironic there Matt – without a driving licence a bus driver is somewhat unemployable 😕
I have a video on my phone of
I have a video on my phone of 2 police motorbikes driving straight past a coach which was parked in a zig zag line area next to a pedestrian crossing. I haven’t bothered to send it anywhere because there’s no point, but it confirms my suspicion that the Police generally can’t be bothered.
@flobble
agreed
some of the
@flobble
agreed
some of the most hypocritical people i have encountered on my daily commute in London are cyclists wearing high-viz jackets, flashing lights and all, but jump every red light and ride through pedestrian crossings on their short journey
(I am following at a distance yet easily catching up)
yet very quick to anger if any motorist dares to make any movement on the highway!
when I stopped next to a women cyclist who displayed this terrible attitude she told me to “f*ck off, mind your own business” then proceeded to scream abuse at a motorist who was legally entitled to indicate and pull into the kerbside to drop off a passenger…
…I hate to say this but I just felt damn embarrassed to be associated with her through riding on 2 wheels.
I’d be more than happy for any road user to film me on my bike, because I don’t break the law at any time; I don’t need to it, its not clever, you don’t get there any quicker and it just leads to accidents.
I’d also be very happy for all Police officers to be equipped with cameras because as a previous poster mentioned, they’d raise a huge amount of fines in a very short period of time. Or just position police on prominent traffic junctions during the rush hour commute and see what comes their way
The blatant law breaking I see every day, on my 3 mile commute from motorists and cyclists cannot be just in my imagination!
Let alone what I observe on 60-100 mile road rides through Surrey and London
Spot on Flobble. It seems to
Spot on Flobble. It seems to me that the standard of cycling in our city centres is equally as bad as the driving and filming incidents would show both groups in an equally bad light.
While on a bike myself in the summer, I saw a cyclist go through a junction and broadside into a car (where the car had the right of way). Whilst the cyclist picked himself up his mates started screaming at the female driver, including shouts of “Might have known, it’s a f***ing woman driver” Don’t think I’ve ever felt so ashamed to be a cyclist.
And today on the radio I heard a feature about residents in Surrey who are starting to get fed up with the attitude of cyclists. The woman being interviewed was explaining how one elderly driver had been spat at. Whatever the in’s and out’s of the actual incident, news bites like that on national radio is hardly doing the cycling community any favours.
Share the road.Be safe (Dave
Share the road.Be safe (Dave sherry 😐
I’m a keen cyclist and don’t
I’m a keen cyclist and don’t drive a car. I see drivers using their mobiles whilst driving, everyday. I’ve even seen a lady driver texting whilst going around a roundabout with a dog sat on her lap with its paws on the steering wheel. However, I am also seeing lots of cyclists riding and steering with one hand, whilst texting or phoning someone. We could keep ourselves very busy reporting such incidences to the police, with the advent of these video cameras. Just a bit more difficult with the cyclists, as they have no number plate for identification. May have to rely on observable tattoos. Big brother here we come!
Yes it’s pity someone lost
Yes it’s pity someone lost their job, but it’s also a pity they lost themselves the job by knowingly flouting the rules of the road and putting lives at risk.
As for cyclists doing the same, sure, I see tons of cyclists doing dumb and illegal stuff as well (even if generally the risk to others is much less than when the same is done in a motorised vehicle) and would be overjoyed if both sides received a lot more scrutiny/points/fines.
@mikem22
I am regularly told
@mikem22
I am regularly told to “f*ck off” by cyclists who have taken offence to my comment that they are riding the wrong way against oncoming traffic (normally a motor vehicle and me on my bike) whilst I am going down a one-way street
just this Saturday past in Covent Garden a women cycling a cargo bike gave me this attitude (called me a “f*cking wanker”); swerved around me and then was involved in a low-speed road traffic collision with a black cab driver who was driving with care and attention and very surprised to find the cargo bike wedged in his front bumper.
In the past year:
-I have been pushed against a wall on the pavement next to the canal in Camden by a cyclist trying to get past
-run over and knocked to the ground on a green pedestrian crossing light next to Camden tube station by a cyclist jumping the light. ended up with a bruised jaw and left arm, the cyclist fled dragging their bike
-had a women on a bike launch a foul mouthed barrage of abuse when she tried to force me off the pavement in Camden by Sainsbury’s so she could get past on her bike, only for my shock to find her child also riding behind her
I can stand at the road junction in Kentish town road near my house during the morning commute and see dozens of cyclists jumping the red lights within 5 minutes
where the hell are the Police, because these are not isolated incidents?
-I have been pushed against a
😕 Were you deliberately obstructing people?
hampstead_bandit
There, fixed that for you.
Apropos of nothing:
This
Apropos of nothing:
This afternoon I was on my way home, crossing a green light at Moss Lane West in Whalley Range. A guy came out of the left and turn left in front of me and headed off in the same direction. Now he didn’t hit me, or even nearly hit me though I had to brake a little. 5m might seem like a lot of space but 1 second isn’t a lot of time. So I got back up to speed and whilst I went past him said (well shouted really) ‘The next time you cut a red light in front of me I’ll just push you over.’
This is of course totally untrue. It is very unlikely that this will happen again. And if he did happen to t-bone me one day I would be very unlikely to just be able to palm him off like a rugby forward, I would probably end up under a taxi instead.
However I was annoyed because I am just trying to get home from work, he has cut me up by running a red light and totally doesn’t care. He thought ‘I’m turning left, it doesn’t count.’ But more then that, having shouted at him, I now felt asinine for blurting out something threatening and what I said was pointless and just wound me even more.
So this guy was oblivious to what he had done and why I was angry, He probably though ‘What a dick, what is his problem.’ As I didn’t have time to stop for a confrontation or give him a seminar on road safety he probably hasn’t go a clue what I was saying or why. The fact that he was just pulling his apple earphones out and riding some kind of granny bike meant he couldn’t chase me despite being about 15 years younger than me. (Bonus pedant point: no helmet; perhaps no space what with his huge ginger afro.)
The futility of all this tells me you can only share the road by a philosophy of good Karma; do as you would expect to be done by. This is why I thing the police should be looking out for wrong doers; taking the law into your own hands isn’t the answer. Most people don’t need the stress of having to worry what other people are going to do, you just want to expect them not to do wrong. So maybe don’t buy a camera it will only serve to prove just how crazy everyone else is.
Sadly, I think that the roads
Sadly, I think that the roads are just becoming a free-for-all.
Hampstead-bandit above ^^ quotes various examples of law-breaking cyclists, I can counter that with plenty of examples of law-breaking motorists from my 15-mile commute home through Manchester this evening. If you actually look for things (rather than “just riding along”) it’s amazing what you see – literally dozens of drivers on the phone, red light/yellow box/ASL infringements, queue-jumping – it beggered belief.
And yes, of course cyclists react to it by doing the same – some say it’s their way of keeping safe (eg “anticipating” the light change to get a head start), some just do it cos they’re dickheads, some do it cos – well, everyone else is. And that’s the problem. There is almost no enforcement on the roads so this behaviour goes unchallenged so people do it more and more.
We don’t need a well publicised “crackdown” at a couple of key junctions. We need total enforcement of the law for ALL road users, massive fines for phone use, proper sentences for driving offences (none of this £100 and a 3-point fine for driving without insurance rubbish). I’ve said it before but it could solve the national debt if we actually enforced the existing laws!
As for the bus driver… Would you rather one man lost his job or 20 people were killed/injured as a result of his actions?
To be fair, although i see
To be fair, although i see plenty f drivers on their phones , when a driver recently crossed a solid white line, nearly hit me then got out of his car and started abusing me. I reported it and the Greater Manchester Police have dealt with it very promptly and said they’d charge him with breach of the peace legislation.
This is mainly because there is a fair bit of CCTV in Manchester city center. one day we’ll all have google glass (or some other variant), and people will have to be a whole lot more careful.
The fact is if you’re not responsible enough to obey pretty simple road rules (bikes or cars), then the option of walking is always there.
@crazy-legs
agreed
I would
@crazy-legs
agreed
I would like to see the Police and CPS move to a “zero tolerance” policy for road policing treating all road users in the same manner
if you look at the example of New York, USA they moved to a zero tolerance policing model for crime, and dramatically cut crime because even minor infringements were dealt with promptly and with real world consequences for the offender
many years ago, I used to act like a dick on my bike in London traffic because i did not appreciate the consequences of my actions.
It took a £30 fixed penalty fine, and the following week a lecture from a Police Sgt at Liverpool Street who calmly explained I would either be scraped off the road (with him having to visit my family and explain the circumstances of my death) or I would cause a fatality and be 1/2 mile away when it occurred
After these 2 instances, I never broke the law again, and completely changed my attitude towards my responsibilitiy of using the public highway
unfortunately for many new cyclists, their ego (skewed view of their self importance) / arrogance or ignorance dictates their poor behavior on the public highway
some financial penalties and safety education would not be wasted
To all people claiming that
To all people claiming that cyclists are just as bad.
Maybe they are, maybe not. It depends where you live and how much time you spend driving and cycling.
The fundamental difference between motorists and cyclists behaving badly is the potential consequences of their actions.
An idiot cyclist, however smug, mindless, rude or reckless is unlikely to injure or kill anyone other than themselves. Deaths by dangerous cycling are extremely rare and I’ve never heard about any driver killed by a cyclist…
An idiot driver however, travelling in his +1 tonne steel box at much higher speeds can take someone’s life in a second, as we’ve seen so many times…
No matter how annoyed you may be with (fellow) cyclists please don’t compare one with another.
to be honest I’m just fed up
to be honest I’m just fed up of entitled idiots. Whether they’re driving a car, van, bus, riding a bike or even a pedestrian – I just wish people would stop being idiots.
A cyclist came speeding round a blind corner the wrong way and I had to effectively endo not to hit him. I got a load of abuse off him even though he was in the wrong. Idiot.
Last week a car driver pulled out of a residential street onto a main road and missed me by inches. I get the middle finger and a load of abuse. Idiot.
People coasting around town on bikes running red lights – why don’t you just try putting a bit more effort in so that you can obey the law and get a bit fitter at the same time whilst still getting where you’re going as quickly? Idiots.
Cars driving through traffic calming at you when you have priority…pedestrians stepping out into a main road without looking or worse seeing a bike then walking out into the road having seen you and thinking it’s ok because you’re only riding a bike… I just don’t understand what’s happening in this country. There just seems to be so many idiots it’s painful.
Why are there so many idiots? why?
turboprannet
[[[[ Population density? And in, I hear, January 2014, 29 million more East Europeans will be eligible for UK residency. Guess which British city will be first choice for most of those that choose to exercise that right…if you think road conditions are bad now, just wait.
P.R.
PhilRuss I live in Bristol
PhilRuss I live in Bristol which has a very high population of Eastern Europeans (mainly Polish) and they aren’t the worst by far.
To compound my earlier point 10 minutes ago a woman decided to turn left across me as I was on a junction. Evasive action taken but compounded by the fact the car behind her was a police car. The police promptly did nothing about it.
Just so many idiots.
PhilRuss wrote:turboprannet
[[[[ Population density? And in, I hear, January 2014, 29 million more East Europeans will be eligible for UK residency. Guess which British city will be first choice for most of those that choose to exercise that right…if you think road conditions are bad now, just wait.
P.R.— turboprannet
What Mid Life Crisis
[[[[ Population density? And in, I hear, January 2014, 29 million more East Europeans will be eligible for UK residency. Guess which British city will be first choice for most of those that choose to exercise that right…if you think road conditions are bad now, just wait.
P.R.— PhilRuss— turboprannet
If you think that is
If you think that is dangerous …
Have a look at this video driver in Canada (City: Ottawa)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qz1rO7wUSYg
And no, he wasn’t fired. It was his first time !
I shouted, “Look out,” to one
I shouted, “Look out,” to one idiot sending a text on his mobile as he wobbled down the road with one hand on his bars as I rode home last night. He was trundling along in the gutter, just the place for him to pick up some glass in his tyres. He barely even looked up from his mobile as I shouted. I presume he was watching the edge of the road out of the corner of his eye to make sure he didn’t stray in either direction.
There are idiots on two wheels and on four as well, like the moron in a Range Rover running a red light I also encountered and who cut across my path and that of the person in the car alongside me as we pulled away from the lights. I could see him mouthing the predictable obscenity in response to the chorus from me and the person in the car next to me.
Use any evidence you can to crack down on poor road use, bicycle, car, truck, bus or whatever. It is anti social behaviour and it is not acceptable. The only way people will learn is if they get a letter in the post informing them of the fine or points on their licence. And if they get the sack, that’s tough, but it’s their own fault.
If a cyclist is texting while
If a cyclist is texting while riding they are risking their own lives.
if a driver of a motor car or bus or HGV is texting they are risking the lives of their passengers and those around them. It is not the same thing.
So, to summarise:
Dicks ride
So, to summarise:
Dicks ride bikes.
Dicks drive cars.
Dicks drive buses.
Dicks use mobile phones.
etc, etc…
Such is the state of modern society. I ain’t expecting it to change any time soon.
no one should have ANY
no one should have ANY sympathy for a PROFESSIONAL driver who lost their job because they were using a mobile phone while driving, which is ILLEGAL.
he knew the rules and took a risk by breaking them.
he not only risked his safety, but 50 passengers safety and any other road users (and pedestrians) he came anywhere near!
IDIOT
Living in Derby I see very
Living in Derby I see very little bad riding, but then again most drivers are happy to give you enough space and wait to pass.
Most of the bad driving /riding seems to emanate out of London, can I assume people there are just far to self important to give a s**t about other people ?
As 90% of cyclists are also drivers(statistic pulled out of the air) can we not just say that it is drivers who are all idiots it is just their choice of transport that varies ?
Sorry Jova
Rational Dave is
Sorry Jova
Rational Dave is not me. Quite frankly using a mobile whilst on the road is a no no. That inludes driving, riding a motobike, cycling, skateboarding roller skating and any other means of transport.
Therefore you cannot claim £10.
Regards
Freespirit