(02 Sep 2024, 4:16 pm)R852 PRG wrote Just an addendum to this thread.

I was on a Go North East bus late this morning when an incident occurred (the details of which I'll be intentionally vague with, just in case any of the sadcases working at GNE with nothing better to do while stealing a living try to engage their brains and pursue). Following this incident, which was really but a minor transgression, the driver, easily old enough to be my parent, came to wait their time on stand in a bus station. From here, they called the depot and spoke with the Operations Supervisors (formerly Leading Drivers) on duty, from whom they appeared to receive a mouthful of what I can only assume was their idea of corrective coaching for going against the procedure in an instance such as this. 

Shortly thereafter, they asked all passengers to alight and look for alternative passage pending the arrival of a yardman, which we all complied with. I hovered in the vicinity, and noticed that they were overcome with emotion. I let myself back on through the exterior door control and sat down to chat with them, if nothing else than just to lend an ear. They were visibly shaking like a leaf and struggling to articulate themself. They advised me that they had only been driving for a few months.

Now, while I have no doubt that this individual probably entered company service in good faith, they were more likely than not catfished by the bullshit Elite Driver Academy advertisements forced down our throats. Indeed, they indicated this matter to have been their first incident and that they were completely unprepared and uninformed as to the correct protocols to follow - to me, quite a damning indictment of how some of these recruits have been raced through the school like battery-farmed chickens, then thrown in the deep end and expected to swim. Perhaps most concerning of all, I was left with the distinct impression that my brief discussion with them was very likely the most concern anybody had shown for their wellbeing in the time since they joined the business.

A lot of management roles come straight from university/college with no experience to the bus industry, ( no bus driving experience at all) . Many years ago when I first came into the industry, a driver worked his/her way up the ladder ( so to speak) not straight into management roles from school