(15 Jan 2023, 1:01 pm)Thomas12 wrote The agency drivers at Arriva are absolutely horrendous, probably worse than the ones on the Metro Replacement. Couple of incidents I have noticed over the last week.Agree, Arriva drivers on 51 have always been very good.
Was on the 306 last week and the driver was appalling (I'm assuming it was an agency driver as they had no Arriva uniform) - in 30 minutes he went passed the stop when someone had pressed the bell twice (and didn't stop when told), ignored someone with their hand out at a bus stop, and was constantly breaking harshly. Not exactly the service you want to provide.
Witnessed one of them on Gosforth High Street at the Brandling Arms drive past someone with their hand out.
And they obviously haven't been route trained properly either - one on the 55 last night made about 3 errors with the route.
Sooner they are gone the better - especially as I don't usually find the Arriva Northumbria drivers bad at all.
RE: Disruptions and driver shortages