This morning I phoned Swasbrook tours to find out why my daughters bus ticket wasn't on the bus as it always had been every fortnight for the whole of 2013.
The response I got from Simon Swasbrook who operates Swasbrook tours was..
"WELL I HAVEN'T GOT TO WORK YET HAVE I" & then "LOOK IT'S NOT MY PROBLEM IF YOU DON'T GET YOUR S**T TOGETHER & ORDER IT EARLY ENOUGH IS IT". From the outset of this conversation he talked over me, his tone was extremely rude, inappropriate & unprofessional. My main concern is that the Driver balled my daughter out & shouted at her in front of everyone on the bus. As the payment had processed the previous day we were expecting the ticket to be on the bus. My daughter had to see if one of her friends would kindly click her onto the bus. This situation caused stress all round & my daughter phoned me upset as the driver had been so rude about it. This situation was through no fault of her own. Part way into this conversation I became cross & frustrated so mentioned that I was becoming very impatient with the Swasbrook service. I reminded him that the driver some weeks back had been operating his cell phone whilst driving. Simon emphatically denied this, even though I had phoned him the day after the incident to report it and I also reported it to the school.
Simon claimed & I quote "WHAT A LOAD OF S**T". I replied that a number of girls saw the driver using his cell phone that day so was he denying that fact? I stated to Simon that he also seemed to have amnesia about our previous phone conversation re the cell phone usage? Incidentally the day after I’d reported this, Simon's bus driver waited until the bus was full of girls and then asked everyone loudly “who told their parents I was using my cell phone”. I view this as completely out of line.This exact same driver is still driving the bus and continues to display inappropriate and rude behaviour in his duties.
I feel that if Swasbrook is contracted to provide a service, as a parent of a child I expect that my child will be spoken to appropriately at all times & will be transported safely to & from school & on time.To be told "WELL DON'T USE OUR SERVICE THEN" shows unbelievable arrogance. Swasbrook, is the main provider/contractor of transport for these girls who travel to this College from Mangere Bridge & Onehunga, otherwise they have to travel on either 2 buses or a train & a bus to get to school. As you can imagine this is definitely not the preferred arrangement for young girls.
I emailed Simon after this phone exchange, he offered no apology & instead made all manner of excuses for his behaviour.
I view this bus company to be unprofessional and cavalier about the way they treat young girls and also the no-apology approach to a failing in processes & the "no action approach" taken in regard for their safety..This is in-excusable.