Going to the press with a list of unusual items lost on your buses is an amusing way of getting a little positive publicity. People will respond to such an article with a chuckle, even with empathetic thoughts. Cardiff Bus is the latest to list the bizarre and the unusual. Like a sombrero, for example. How do you forget one of those? And a groin protector.
But Cardiff Bus’ lost property statistics came to light in the press after a newspaper raised a freedom of information request. Well, of all the things. Why would a newspaper wish to misuse such a mechanism designed to root out all that is worst in government for the sake of such a trivial story? And I never appreciated that a freedom of information request might apply to Cardiff Bus as an arm’s length company. Then again, its shareholder is in the public sector. You wouldn’t even ask Stagecoach or Veolia, though, would you.
If that’s all Cardiff Bus has to worry about, though, they’re doing pretty well. Except there’s something looming. It was exactly five years ago that Cardiff Bus allegedly put 2Travel out of business. There followed a public censure from the OFT for Cardiff Bus and its predatory behaviour & abuse of position; and another from the traffic commissioner. Now, 2Travel’s liquidators are preparing to sue Cardiff Bus. Here’s the list:
- £7.27mil in lost profits
- £15mil for the loss of the business as a going concern
- £171,000 for wasted management and staff time
- £15mil for the loss suffered by 2Travel and its directors from being driven out of the market and unable to grow the company
- £10mil for the loss of the opportunity to develop 2Travel’s Swansea depot
- £3.2mil in exemplary damages and interest & costs.
Now, wouldn’t that make a tasty freedom of information request. Except that it’s probably sub-judice. So, may be, it has to be back to Cardiff Bus’ list of lost property, like a box of hair, a Christmas tree, bottle of methadone, a tricycle, a pair of slippers, a kettle, an empty suitcase, a vacuum cleaner and two copies of a university dissertation, all of which were apparently left on its buses.
All items need cataloguing and storage for a month, except perishables, which we must keep for two days. There’s a strong case under the Red Tape Challenge for immediate disposal of anything that’s likely to be able to leave on its own (ie. if likely to go off and grow something).
i Press article
6 comments:
"You wouldn’t even ask Stagecoach or Veolia, though, would you."
If you did you wouldn't get told.
But - this sort of thing is happening on the railway as well. People who want behind-the-scenes information, e.g. on fares rules, are quite effectively obtaining it by sending Freedom of Information requests to Directly Operated Railway Ltd, a.k.a. East Coast, which is nationalised.
Bus companies are fairly poor at publishing the small print about their fares,and long gone are the days of little printed conditions of carriage booklets. I know that ignorance of the law is no excuse to break it, but to give everyone a fair chance to avoid transgressions, just how much secrecy should matters affecting their passengers,or customers,really need ? The more up front,the better,or perhaps just don't make silly over restrictive terms and conditions in the first place.
As for 2Travel,as they say on Dragon's Den, I think they have grossly overvalued their operation.A favourable ruling could open up all sorts of claims that fair competition caused losses. That is the nature of the game.
Now then,I must ask my local bus operator what routes and other companies my Explorer ticket covers as it is not very clear...should I use FOI ??
Did 2Travel go up against Cardiff Bus in the first place? Serious question, as I don't know. If not, what prompted Cardiff Bus's actions?
To anon @ 0959: 2 Travel pretty much went up against the incumbant operator in both Cardiff and Swansea / Neath, registering services on the busiest routes with service numbers that were prefixed with a 2 in front of the existing service number (except in Neath). The frequencies, quality and standard of operation were well less of what was already offered (no early / late journeys and no journeys when the schools were opening / closing) if the journeys actually ran at all. Cardiff's tactic was to duplicate their own service with white minibuses running on the routes with service numbers prefixed with a 1 in front of the existing service number, running in front of 2 Travel's departure. It was a slightly OTT reaction. First didn't bother to retaliate in Swansea / Neath and waited for 2 Travel to collapse anyway. 2 Travel wasn't the best organised operation and as it had shareholders, it needed to keep expanding, which placed a lot of pressure on the operations. I think the directors are fooling themselves into blaming Cardiff Bus for all their woes and are just trying it on as they always did.
I once saw a tray of eggs on the dashboard of an Optare Solo where drivers normally put lost property. But was this lost property or was the driver making a little extra profit on the side?!!
have already been found guilty of preditory actions and they came very close to losing their operating licence.
The court case is really to establish as to how much the preditory behaviour contributed to the failure of 2 Travel Group and as to how much compensation Cardiff bus will have to make
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