Wednesday 8 June 2011

It Would Seem That No, He Can’t Do His Job Properly…

…but never mind, he can still do a slightly different one:
Talip Erken, 44, pushed, punched and headbutted Tobi De Souza, who had complained that Erken had missed his stop. Mr De Souza had wanted to get off the C1 outside Harrods in Knightsbridge on January 15, City of Westminster magistrates heard.

He asked the driver: "Can't you do your job properly?" and stayed on to the end of the route at Terminus Place, Victoria, taking a photo of the bus on his mobile phone and going into the station to complain.
Which clearly didn’t please the bus driver man, who decided to dish out a little customer feedback of his own:
Erken, of Bayswater, made an obscene gesture as he drove off, the court heard. Minutes later, CCTV footage shows him stopping his vehicle, walking up to Mr De Souza and attacking him.
Hopefully, he isn’t driving buses now?

Well…
Erken, a bus driver for six years, was sacked and now works on tour buses.
Which makes all the difference, I’m sure…
He admitted causing actual bodily harm and was sentenced to 100 hours of unpaid work.
/facepalm

8 comments:

Ranter said...

'allo laydee wanna tour Lunnon inna ma buss? I geev yoo ASDA price innit!

Ahhhhh diversity....so real...so raw!

James Higham said...

Watch the lad's career progress with interest.

Roue le Jour said...

Hmmn. I've seen tempers raised in those 'lock-in' buses myself. Ten yards from the stop, immobile traffic, and under no circumstances can the doors be opened until the bus is exactly alongside the stop.

What would be a really good idea, would be if buses had an open door at the back where you could just hop on or off. Perhaps a cheekie chappie to collect the fare, and if they had two decks, they could carry more people. Just a hopeless dream, I know.

Shinar's Basket Case said...

I've said it before: Only 'OAP's, Pikeys and Care In The Community Cases ride public transport....and that goes for the drivers too.

Ranter said...

Roue Le Jour: what about the disabled? The death of the iconic Routemaster was caused by the DDA and Health & Safety laws. All those disabled people you see waiting for wheelchair access buses and the millions of deaths caused by people falling off the back of Routemasters over the centuries!!!!!!!

blueknight said...

No white Englishmen were harmed during etc

Roue le Jour said...

I was in Lisbon, Portugal in the early 90s chatting to a local when I pointed out that while Lisbon had some very modern trams, running alongside them were some complete museum pieces, the 24 in particular. My host didn't understand the point. "The old trams are very popular," he said "why wouldn't we keep running them?"

Coming from a country where the fact people like things is seen as a reason for getting rid of them, I felt like the proverbial communist having supermarkets explained to him.

JuliaM said...

"Ten yards from the stop, immobile traffic, and under no circumstances can the doors be opened until the bus is exactly alongside the stop."

Yes, it is a recipe for heated passions, isn't it? Maybe Boris' new Routemaster will end this?

" My host didn't understand the point. "The old trams are very popular," he said "why wouldn't we keep running them?""

In Lisbon, they don't have a vociferous disability lobby, I guess?