Customers
We allow usually eating and drinking on our vehicles, an exception to this is when travelling to sporting events, particularly football matches, when it is illegal to consume alcohol on a passenger vehicle.
This policy enriches the customer experience, brings repeat bookings and ensures we are an attractive alternative to driving or taking a train, however it does bring it’s challenges.
One consequence of food and drink is the potential mess it can make. We advise providing bin liners to the group and politely ask them to dispose of rubbish in these. It’s also likely that you will need to give the bus a sweep and mop at the end of the journey.
The biggest challenge can come from alcohol. While the vast majority of customers are respectful, some people can become rude and anti-social when they have had too much to drink. In the event of a customer becoming intoxicated and causing problems, we always encourage you to try to diffuse the situation passively, where possible. If the situation becomes troublesome and the customer is being unreasonable or aggressive, we will always support your decision to refuse to take a customer any further and support you in resolving the issue when required. Please report any such incidents to the office as soon as possible.
It is very unusual to have a customer vomit in a vehicle. You should provide a bag to the customer and offer to pull over if required to try and prevent it. If it does happen, we are entitled to charge a £25 cleaning fee from the customer.
Drivers
Under no circumstances should food or drink be consumed whilst dealing with customers or driving (some customers do feel this takes your attention off the road).
When stationery (on a break or at a service station for example), you may eat and drink as you like, but please remove any rubbish from the vehicle before proceeding with the journey.
If you would like to consume mints or boiled sweets etc. whilst driving, this is fine, but they must be stored somewhere that won’t draw your attention from the road. Chewing gum is not acceptable when dealing with a customer though.