MORE THAN 18 COMPLAINTS PER DAY OF POOR OR DANGEROUS BUS DRIVING IN LONDON

12.01.00am GMT Thu 3rd Feb 2005

New research revealed by the London Assembly Liberal Democrats show that there have been more than 20,000 complaints about bus driver behaviour in 2004.

The figures, disclosed in Mayoral answers show that there were:

· On average more than 18 complaints per day about poor or dangerous driving

· On average 35 complaints every day where drivers were said to have deliberately missed stops

· 485 complaints in a year of bus drivers damaging cars

· 287 complaints in a year where drivers had refused to lower ramps for the disabled

· 2,600 injuries to bus passengers in the year to September 2004. One in four of these were falls suffered by elderly passengers

Bus companies with the highest number of complaints about poor or dangerous driving were:

· Arriva London North with 749 complaints

· Metroline with 733

· Stagecoach East London with 540

· Arriva London South with 539

· First Centrewest with 502

Liberal Democrat London Assembly Transport Spokesperson, Lynne Featherstone said:-

"Most bus drivers have excellent standards of behaviour. However, nothing makes bus passengers angrier than buses all coming together or bus drivers behaving badly. There are many, many good drivers whose status is tarnished by those who drive too fast, stop too abruptly, use mobile phones or fail to make the disabled ramp available.

"Those most at risk from erratic driving are frail or elderly people who are unable to balance themselves when the bus accelerates quickly or brakes sharply.

"With so many people taking the bus every day, it is inevitable that there will be some complaints about the way drivers perform. However, it is vital that to maintain confidence, as much is done by bus operators and Transport for London to ensure that passengers are not given a rough ride."

ENDS

Figures have been compiled from Mayoral answers to questions 214 / 2005, 120 / 2005, 220 / 2005, 118 / 2005

For the full table, please e-mail richard.stokoe@london.gov.uk

Passenger injuries on London buses

Question No: 37 / 2005

How many injuries are recorded each year as occurring to passengers on London buses? Approximately what percentage of these falls are suffered by senior citizens?

Ken Livingstone

These figures were last looked at in detail in September 2004. At that time TfL found that there were 2,600 injuries to passengers in a year across the network, approximately 25% of which were as a result of falls suffered by senior citizens. There were around 1.7 billion journeys made on the bus network during 2003/04, of which around 238 million (14%) were made by passengers aged 60 and over.