Bus Driver Sacked after Drink Driving a Frome - Chippenham X34 Service

[whole diary]

[thetrout]

From the Wiltshire Times:

A bus driver arrested in Melksham after reports he was swigging from a can of extra strong lager has been sacked by employers Faresaver.

Police received reports from a passer-by that the male driver of the 2.40pm X34 Faresaver bus from Frome to Chippenham was swigging from a can of extra strong lager in Frome last Thursday and urinating against the side of the vehicle.

Wiltshire police were alerted by Avon and Somerset Constabulary and officers were waiting at Market Place in Melksham with a relief driver and a supervisor from the bus company at 3.45pm.


The driver, 55, from Trowbridge, was breathalysed and arrested after being found to have 42mg/100ml of alcohol on his breath, above the 35mg/100ml legal limit. He was bailed pending further inquiries.

The replacement driver took over the bus and continued on to Chippenham.

General manager Justin Pickford said: ^There is an ongoing police investigation and an internal investigation, but suffice to say the driver is no longer working for us. He was suspended from the moment he was taken off the bus and his employment was terminated.

^We co-operated with the police when we knew there was possibly a problem and one of our supervisors was on hand with the police in Melksham.

^It is a very unfortunate state of events, and the safety of our passengers is of the most importance, and we are working fully with the police on this occasion to put the situation right.^

Passengers waiting for the X34 service in Trowbridge this week were shocked at the news.

Ian Stone, 54, from Trowbridge, said: ^It should be seriously looked into.^

Pensioner Margaret Ludlow, from Bradford on Avon, said ^I thought they were pretty good, I take them every day from Trowbridge to Bradford on Avon and back again.^

Frankly I'm shocked...!

Considering I use this service on a fairly frequent basis I suspect I have probably been driven to Trowbridge or Melksham by the disgraced driver

Discuss:

[LiskeardRich]

The company seem to have done the best they can out of the bad situation, they published on their own website about this before it made the media, I had this highlighted to me at least a week ago.

[LiskeardRich]

sorry double post,
from the operators website, from the news tab:

Jan 2013 -
One of our drivers was stopped for alleged drink driving last Thursday 24th January, the allegation is that he had 42mg/100ml of alcohol in his blood, the legal limit being 35mg/100ml. This is not something we are proud to tell you, but it will be in the press and we would like all of our passengers to be aware that we take the safety of our passengers very seriously. The driver is no longer in our employment.

http://www.faresaver.co.uk/newsitem.php?i=9462595

[thetrout]

Indeed this did happen about a month ago. They also posted similar text on their Facebook page. Indeed I was aware of this whilst it was all going on but forgot to post it on the CS...

I was only reminded of the issue when I "complained" that one of their buses didn't turn up... Turns out it didn't because it went off route for reasons that are as yet, still unclear, for a normally very reliable and punctual service.

In the end I took a bus with a different operator scheduled 28 minutes later which decided to leave 4 minutes early... Needless to say a 'grumpy tweet' was sent to First Bristol, Somerset, Avon's twitter account. Which has passed my 'complaint' to Bath Bus Station. But considering they haven't replied to a complaint/delay form I handed in to Bath Bus Station Ticket Office mid December which I have chased up twice about a bus running 40 minutes late due to reasons that were not traffic congestion related... I sharn't hold my breath.........