A week or so a go, a minibus driver with the local council had a complaint made against him for poor/dangerous driving.
Instead of looking into the matter further and asking a few pertinent questions, the lad was suspended from all driving duties pending having his driving abilities assessed.
So, yesterday I was instructed to attend the local council offices and conduct the assessment and see if there were any obvious problems. I was quite OK with this as it meant my passenger schedule for the day was going to be nice and easy.
So.....At the appointed time, I rock up at the council yard, park my bus up and walk over to the office. Now bear in mind I am in uniform with the name of the organisation I work for embroidered onto my fleece as well as my polo shirt, so it was obvious I was not a council employee.
Anyway, I knocked on the door and this woman said "Oh, come in and take a seat" So I sat down whilst this woman completed her phone call, and then without so much as a by your leave she turned round and faced me and said
"Right, when you go out I want you to do as you are told, follow the instructions you are given, and do not question anything you are told to do or is said!"
So I said, "I am familiar with carrying out tests, I have done a few over the past 40 years" to which she said "Blimey, how many complaints have you had made against you? How did you get a job with us?"
I jsut shrugged my shoulders as she was clearly in a world of her own and I was enjoying watching her dig a hole.
The woman sat opposite this manager at this point leant across and said "This chap is conducting the driving assessment"
The look on the managers face was an absolute picture as she realised that she had cocked up and just made an assumption and the embarrassment was clear to see. Her response?
"Well I have never met the driver who is being assessed" So I simply pointed out that my organisation did not form part of the council and had she just drawn breath for a second she would have seen from my uniform I was not from the council.
So no apology or anything, but when I asked her if she had questioned the driver about the incident she said "Oh no, that's not my job to investigate I am only a fleet manager"
Cut a long story short, the guy was fine. When I spoke to him, first thing I asked was did he know why the issue arose in the first place. Transpired he has sleep depravation issues from time to time, and this day was just such a day, but rather than phone in and go sick, he decided t try and get the job down rather than let people down. He was just so knackered his concentration went down the toilet.
So as I said, his drive was fine and he was totally safe and actually gave me a good standard of drive, so I had no problem recommending that he be returned to driving duties.
I went back to report to his manager, and not so much again as a by your leave, but got quite indignant when I said as a manager had she asked a few pertinent questions, the matter could have been resolved quickly and a lot more cheaply, and I pointed out that as a fleet manager it was one of her responsibilities as a requirement of her duty of care.
I did not say it, but she got the inference that I was suggesting that it was her that had proven to be incompetent, not her driver.
But the whole experience did make me laugh and now the council have quite a big bill to pay
Instead of looking into the matter further and asking a few pertinent questions, the lad was suspended from all driving duties pending having his driving abilities assessed.
So, yesterday I was instructed to attend the local council offices and conduct the assessment and see if there were any obvious problems. I was quite OK with this as it meant my passenger schedule for the day was going to be nice and easy.
So.....At the appointed time, I rock up at the council yard, park my bus up and walk over to the office. Now bear in mind I am in uniform with the name of the organisation I work for embroidered onto my fleece as well as my polo shirt, so it was obvious I was not a council employee.
Anyway, I knocked on the door and this woman said "Oh, come in and take a seat" So I sat down whilst this woman completed her phone call, and then without so much as a by your leave she turned round and faced me and said
"Right, when you go out I want you to do as you are told, follow the instructions you are given, and do not question anything you are told to do or is said!"
So I said, "I am familiar with carrying out tests, I have done a few over the past 40 years" to which she said "Blimey, how many complaints have you had made against you? How did you get a job with us?"
I jsut shrugged my shoulders as she was clearly in a world of her own and I was enjoying watching her dig a hole.
The woman sat opposite this manager at this point leant across and said "This chap is conducting the driving assessment"
The look on the managers face was an absolute picture as she realised that she had cocked up and just made an assumption and the embarrassment was clear to see. Her response?
"Well I have never met the driver who is being assessed" So I simply pointed out that my organisation did not form part of the council and had she just drawn breath for a second she would have seen from my uniform I was not from the council.
So no apology or anything, but when I asked her if she had questioned the driver about the incident she said "Oh no, that's not my job to investigate I am only a fleet manager"
Cut a long story short, the guy was fine. When I spoke to him, first thing I asked was did he know why the issue arose in the first place. Transpired he has sleep depravation issues from time to time, and this day was just such a day, but rather than phone in and go sick, he decided t try and get the job down rather than let people down. He was just so knackered his concentration went down the toilet.
So as I said, his drive was fine and he was totally safe and actually gave me a good standard of drive, so I had no problem recommending that he be returned to driving duties.
I went back to report to his manager, and not so much again as a by your leave, but got quite indignant when I said as a manager had she asked a few pertinent questions, the matter could have been resolved quickly and a lot more cheaply, and I pointed out that as a fleet manager it was one of her responsibilities as a requirement of her duty of care.
I did not say it, but she got the inference that I was suggesting that it was her that had proven to be incompetent, not her driver.
But the whole experience did make me laugh and now the council have quite a big bill to pay
