r/Glasgow Tools

Nearly every single bus service that goes into the City Centre would have been diverted today. There are not enough single deckers just lying around spare to be used because buses need to be diverted a few times a year.

These diversions would have been planned well in advance. Drivers would have had several days notice (if not weeks), giving them plenty of time to get to grips with the planned diversion.

Every bus would have had a physical copy of the diversion which would explicitly state “UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD ANY BUS OPERATE UNDER COOK ST BRIDGE.”

This would have been repeated with a message on every ticket machine that advises drivers if they are unsure of the route they “MUST STOP IMMEDIATELY AND CONTACT A SUPERVISOR.”

First Bus’ internal policy is that no company vehicle goes under Cook St bridge, even cars and vans. They will discipline employees who go that route in a Transit never mind a bus.

Every driver is repeatedly warned about low bridges and accident hotspots. They get maps highlighting low bridges all across the region.

Every training course they go on reiterates the dangers of low bridges.

Due to the proximity of that specific low bridge to the First Bus headquarters, it is pointed out to every driver during training.

As a final preventative measure the on board low bridge warning system starts beeping if the bus is in proximity to a low bridge.

In the eyes of the law the driver should and will be held fully responsible for those actions. I’m struggling to see any reason First Bus should “shoulder some of the blame” in that regard. If you are in a car, get diverted due to a road closure and smash into a cyclist because you weren’t familiar with the road layout, you don’t get to blame anybody else. You, the driver are responsible for the actions you take on the road.

Of course when it comes to civil action, it was their driver and their bus, so they will shoulder the financial burden due to their employees negligence.