A woman has been left feeling shaken and ‘disgusted’ after First Bus has failed to get in touch with her after a crash in Bristol. The company has apologised to the passenger after the company has not been in touch with her more than a week after the incident.
The 57-year-old grandmother, who wishes to stay anonymous, was travelling on Friday, August 5 on the 44 bus service from Hanham to Cadbury Heath just after 9am with her eight-year-old grandson. They were the only passengers on the bus at the time.
“We sat at the top at the front of the bus and as we got to Park Crescent, suddenly we felt this bash and I went forward and whacked my knees on the panel at the front. When I released what was happening the driver had hit a stationary vehicle and was pushing it up the road.”
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The woman claims the driver then pulled over and asked for the two of them to get off, as they were the only passengers on board at the time. She said she asked if the driver was okay and that they didn’t ask how they both were after the incident.
She was advised by a passerby to give the driver her details, so she wrote her name and phone number on a piece of paper. The passenger has said she has not heard from First Bus ten days after the crash and has since reached out to the company to ask for an update on the situation.
When approached about the incident, a spokesperson for First West of England said: “This incident was reported by our driver and we will be in contact with the passenger who reported an injury in due course and apologise that this has not happened yet.
“We have a specialist team for these sorts of incidents which is currently looking into the circumstances that led to the collision. It would be inappropriate to comment further while that investigation takes place.
“The safety and wellbeing of our drivers and passengers is always our number one priority and we take any incidents such as these extremely seriously.”
After feeling some pain from the impact of the crash, the 57-year-old went to the doctors to have knees examined and fortunately, they did not find any serious injuries. However, her anxiety has increased after the incident.
“I’ve been feeling really anxious. I don’t know if it’s anxiety after what happened after the crash, but I’ve been feeling shakey. I’m just angry more than anything. My grandson is eight-years-old.”
She continued: “I’m really disgusted over the fact they haven’t got in touch. It’s the duty of care, it’s how they’re meant to care for their customers.”
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The woman is reliant on that particular bus route as she doesn’t drive, and has been left anxious to use the buses in Bristol in the future. “Especially if anything happens, no one is going to take it seriously. I saw the same bus driver driving a 44 bus afterwards - I was worried she was going to get into trouble or lose her job.”
She added: "I don't understand, they want you to use public transport and yet they're not making people want to use it."
First Bus promises to “provide a customer-focused service which will aim to resolve your complaint” when you first contact the company. It aims to make sure you only contact the company once “for a full and satisfactory resolution”. It also aims to respond to all customer enquiries within 7 to 14 working days, “depending on the complexity of the contact”.
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