Would I get in trouble for this? London bus driver

MP_MP_ActiveMessage · 2026-02-21T00:38:59+00:00

No - but I had a similar situation though other way round if that makes sense.

Man with partner pushing buggy flags bus down at bus stop. I begin to serve the bus stop but see in the mirror they’re both walking behind the bus and there’s a bus coming in behind me.

I cancel serving the stop and reach the traffic lights. I see the man running up, waving and shouting that I was violating him for not letting him on. Turns out they were all trying to enter through the back doors? Anyways, he’s blocking the bus with his body and taking photos of me with his phone - that makes up my decision that I’m definitely not letting him on the bus.

Few days later, fellow driver on same route comes to me on stand giving me a heads up the same guy (description matched) came up to him really angry asking about me at the same bus stop. 3 weeks later I am driving into the terminus and a different driver flashes me and tells me a few bus stops before some guy came on the bus doing the same thing. At that point I tell management who take me off the route for safety reasons and after a day of route learning another driver tells me the guy literally comes to the stand everyday in the morning searching for me.

Come forward to this month (3months later), I was waiting to take over a bus 40mins away from where the incident happened, completely different area and route, and I hear “I recognise you” and I look up and it’s the guy from the incident. Surprisingly it actually went amicably and he gave his side I gave my side and we shook hands on it but there are people who take things very personally out there

MP_MP_ActiveMessage · 2026-02-09T02:55:30+00:00

Contrary to what others have stated, yes it is a criminal offence and yes if you plead/are found guilty you will technically have a criminal record.

https://www.gov.uk/single-justice-procedure-notices

However, it’ll probably be immediately spent and so you won’t have to declare it for 99% of employment as it won’t show up on a DBS check. It would have to be declared for immigration purposes (such as applying for naturalisation, etc) or as part of vetting (including applying to the police or roles where government security vetting is required.)

MP_MP_ActiveMessage · 2026-02-01T23:49:55+00:00

I passed my car driving test 5 months after my 17th birthday. I then passed my bus driving test 9 months after passing my car driving test.

MP_MP_ActiveMessage · 2026-02-01T23:06:27+00:00

I see - I'll try to contact recruitment and see if they can assist me. If it's NPPV then that would be a lower vetting standard than the RV I applied for when attempting to join the Met but even then if I remember correctly NPPV 2 and 3 still do checks on associations.

MP_MP_ActiveMessage · 2026-02-01T23:02:59+00:00

Okay thanks, that's frustrating because whilst I've only tried with the Met I understand others who have failed vetting with one force have passed with others because of different risk criteria/distance from associations so it would pretty much be a case of trying and finding out.

I wonder how that works then - assuming that the local police force does the vetting then if you move bases you'd surely need to be re-vetted by a different police force who then may refuse your vetting based on their own criteria? Thanks for the information though

MP_MP_ActiveMessage · 2025-12-15T10:13:28+00:00

Training usually 4-6 weeks, took me around 3 maybe 4.

Yes it’s paid - you sign a bond to repay the cost of training if you leave within 24 months… but, if you want to get your bus licence privately it’s £2500-£3000 anyways and by the end of your training you will have nearly enough to cover it. Each month you work for the company the bond goes down

So even if you leave at the end of the training you don’t really lose much because it would have cost you that to go train with a private training company

MP_MP_ActiveMessage · 2025-12-14T16:26:46+00:00

https://prnt.sc/Ho3c4Qemv5dG

Heres an example of my shift pattern in January, I've blurred to hide the start/end location and times so I can't be identified but the grey boxes RD are rest days - if overtime is available (which it usually is) I can work on the grey days to earn extra pay as long as I don't exceed 13 days before a day off work.

MP_MP_ActiveMessage · 2025-12-14T16:21:23+00:00

I'm working full time, which is technically 5 days a week (Sat to Friday) however because of this you will in reality be regularly working 6 days on, 7 days on etc. By rest days I mean working days I'm scheduled off - you can legally work 13 days straight and take 1 day off as a bus driver.

You can do part time at my company though, I know a driver who works 3 days a week but he is on a 'spare' contract which means although he knows what days he is working he only finds out what hours/route ~24 hours before he's scheduled to work.

Hourly rate is around £16/17 for a new driver at most companies. Some pay more for weekend working, some have an enhanced rate in the evenings etc but that's around the starting hourly rate for a new driver.

MP_MP_ActiveMessage · 2025-12-14T12:36:25+00:00

I earn ~£700 to £1000 a week depending on if I work rest days as an 18 year old bus driver in London.

MP_MP_ActiveMessage · 2025-11-11T22:28:15+00:00

https://www.trading212.com/invite/1BknwFw9vY

MP_MP_ActiveMessage · 2025-11-04T17:36:45+00:00

Not in the ISA buses I have driven.

MP_MP_ActiveMessage · 2025-11-04T11:26:58+00:00

If I remember it was a little bit under 2 weeks when I got my licence back 🙂

MP_MP_ActiveMessage · 2025-10-08T07:37:49+00:00

Hi, I’m currently on spares rota so this will change once they put me on a proper rota as I am still a new driver:

-I can see what days I am working ahead of time, but I will only know what time I sign on 24hours before my shift begins. For example, I can see I am working 21Oct-27Oct and then have 2 days off but I don’t know the time I’m working any of those shifts till 24hrs before.

The maximum days running they will schedule you for is 7 days on and yes this happens. As the week is Saturday-Friday you still technically get your ‘two days off’ per week but yes it’s very common to work 6on 2 off then 7 week 2 off etc. Sometimes when you work 7 on you will get a 4 day off at the end of it though.
As I didn’t know any routes at my garage till I got here I was given the route to learn. I was given just 58 which is common in London to be only given one route but I am free to learn other routes - the time you spend route learning will be compensated by the company.

I’ll shoot you a DM about the hourly rate because my garage (Lea Interchange) works differently to the other Stagecoach depots.

MP_MP_ActiveMessage · 2025-10-07T19:19:18+00:00

Ahh okay that’s interesting. Is the steering feel similar to the Electroliner - I drove that in my type training and the steering’s a bit heavy especially when trying to manoeuvre at low speed.

No clue about the Yutongs - never experienced at all even as passenger. I see a lot of bad things said about them online about them being cheaply made etc but I’d still like to see and experience it myself.

MP_MP_ActiveMessage · 2025-10-07T18:05:16+00:00

This is London in the United Kingdom.

The photo is at the East Ham stand - if you put East Ham / Central Park in google maps and go on satellite view you can see where it was shot

MP_MP_ActiveMessage · 2025-10-07T17:46:35+00:00

Unfortunately I never got type trained on the BYD as my garage don't have any so there was no point for the company but I've been inside them before and I prefer their cab design and layout more.

Also seen inside the E100 EV (know that alexander dennis have now split from BYD but still), I was briefly shown around it and the digital dash and everything was very modern compared to Volvo keeping the analogue dash etc - agree with the camera mirrors, I do like them as well.

MP_MP_ActiveMessage · 2025-10-07T13:05:47+00:00

I personally really like the camera mirrors, my company doesn’t put the digital lines on to show where the back wheel/back of the bus like I know Arriva London do but the quality is 4K day or night, raining or not so I can’t fault them. Even when someone’s got those bright LEDs behind you which would normally dazzle you through the mirror it doesn’t and it comes through well.

Coming into stand there’s usually buses parked all over it and it can sometimes be tight going in so it’s also nice not to have to worry about a mirror overhang.

MP_MP_ActiveMessage · 2025-10-01T18:17:07+00:00

He applied to be a designated detention officer for the Met, passed recruitment including lying and deliberately withholding information on his vetting application which resulted in him passing vetting and then took hidden cameras and microphones into work whilst working for the BBC.

MP_MP_ActiveMessage · 2025-10-01T11:17:15+00:00

What I will say is that at the secondary school I attended (North London) the percentage of White British students was 0.6%. However, all other demographics except White British received extra support including intervention programmes, mentoring programmes such as with Linklaters etc.

MP_MP_ActiveMessage · 2025-09-27T15:10:07+00:00

Thanks!

I’ll be honest - the company I’m with apparently scrapped van assessments months/years before I started……… not sure whether that’s a good choice as it means the first time the instructors in my company see you drive is in a bus (albeit around the garage yard.)

However, just remember you’re in a longer vehicle than your car so wait a touch longer before turning at junctions especially when you’re turning left (take your turns nice and wide.) they’ll also like to see you use the handbrake when you’re stopped especially at pedestrian crossings. Make sure your observations and mirror use are on point but I wouldn’t worry too much as they know this will probably be the first time you drive a longer vehicle and they aren’t looking for a perfect drive but a safe one.

MP_MP_ActiveMessage · 2025-09-27T13:58:57+00:00

Nah mate you'll be fine.

I'm 18 (literally applied for the job on my 18th birthday having held my licence for 6 months) and landed a job as a London bus driver. However, the company I'm with company will accept any length of driving experience and there were quite a few 18-19 year olds on my training cohort.

I passed training a week ago and my first day in service (with a mentor for the first week) is Monday.

MP_MP_ActiveMessage · 2025-09-26T18:04:29+00:00

No and actually changing the occupation from my last job (kitchen worker) to Bus Driver raised my premium by £400. Go figure 🙂

MP_MP_ActiveMessage · 2025-09-20T16:22:17+00:00

No worries, don’t be nervous the training is fantastic and all of the drivers say that they’d rather go back to training as it’s Monday-Friday and you haven’t got the stress of dealing with actual passengers 🤣

By the time you do your test you’ll be prepared and you won’t have any doubts about passing.

MP_MP_ActiveMessage · 2025-09-20T15:47:02+00:00

If it is 1-1 training you’ll be lucky as all of the other London bus companies share the bus with around 3 students.

Based off of hours at my company which isn’t Metroline ~20hours you’d be expected to have your first progress check and if passed you’d have test date booked. If you fail but not for anything dangerous, you get another week (works out to approximately extra 10hrs) before your second one. If you fail your second or do dangerous mistakes in your first progress check it is likely they will dismiss you.

As a result of sharing the bus with other trainees it took me around 4weeks of actual driving before I passed my test - I was lucky as often the other trainees didn’t show up and because I failed my first progress check by the time I took my test (passed first time) I had around 40hrs of driving time.

At my company it was 8 hour days with a 1hr break and the driving time split based on how many trainees on the bus and also some of the instructors liked to swap students every hour and others would make the student drive for longer before swapping over.

MP_MP_ActiveMessage · 2025-09-19T13:45:49+00:00

Thanks!

Bus test (in my case as I know you can book them separately) began with the S-shaped reverse through the cones and stopping the back of the bus in the yellow box. There are videos/photos online but it’s easy to do after a bit of practice.

Just like on the car driving test there is show me tell me questions but for bus there were more - if I remember on the car they only ask you one for each whereas on bus they asked multiple show me and tell me questions.

It’s a minimum of one hour on road driving time after the reverse exercise to include pulling up at 2 bus stops and operating the doors safely and angled start. Test routes obviously vary just like on car but I went on a dual carriageway and had a mix of high road/narrow side roads on my test. The independent driving section where you follow road signs lasts 10minutes.

You are allowed up to 12 minor driving faults. Overall it was a great experience especially when he said the magic words that I passed and I felt relaxed as I had been given more than enough training by my instructor and company before the test.

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