London Banter - View Single Post - Drivers telling passengers to use the emergency buttons...

John Williamson · November 23rd 12, 02:48 PM posted to uk.transport.buses,uk.transport.london

d wrote:
On Fri, 23 Nov 2012 13:26:55 -0000
"Portsmouth Rider" wrote:
Passenger being permitted to leave at unauthorised stop trips (even may be
own fault.)
Leads to:
Passenger sees "COMPO!!!" and claims from bus co
Leads to:
Bus co want to know from driver what was he doing allowing unscheduled
dropping points
Leads to:
Driver out of job

In theory, in practice there has to be some leaway. If for example the road
is blocked ahead and the bus can't move then the driver will have to let
the passengers off else they could sue the bus company for false imprisonment!
And while we hear of stupid payouts in courts like that one in the last few
days for the idiot who hurt her finger, I'm pretty sure most judges and juries
are fairly sensible and would see the drivers point of view.

The judge and jury might, The compensation lawyer certainly won't. In
the end it will come to an expensive court case which may swing either
way, which costs everybody concerned major amounts of money. In the end
the compensation and legal fees will be paid out of the passengers'
pockets. This will put up the cost of rail tickets.

The passengers can't sue for false imprisonment in the circumstances you
give, either. It's been tried and the case failed. Passenger safety was
the reason quoted.

The bottom line is, you contract with the TOC is to get you to $Station.
There is no contractual liability to drop you off at any other place
just because you want to be dropped there because the bus happens to go
that way.

Dropping you at any place other than a contractually agreed place is in
contravention of your contract, and if you insist on being dropped at a
place other than your destination, you are in breach of the conditions
of carriage which you agreed to when you bought the ticket, and if any
problems (For example, someone misses an important appointment that they
would otherwise have attended) arise because of this, you can be sued by
the TOC for damages.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.