The jobsworth is alive and well on the buses

11:29am Wednesday 23rd April 2008

The great jobsworth mentality is alive and well and irritating First Devon & Cornwall's customers.

Today, when traffic came to a standstill in Penryn for 40 minutes, the driver of a bus full of passengers (mostly students travelling to college on their first day) stood firm in his refusal to budge from company policy, or his interpretation of it, that is.

The driver, entrenched in his inflexibility rejected a student's wish to board the bus because he was not at an official bus stop and his ticket wasn't transferrable.

This was after other First Devon & Cornwall drivers, who were also in the traffic standstill, had advised that this was his best chance of getting to college on time.

The driver showed he was determined to stick to his jobsworth role when rather than help ease the traffic jam by re-routing his bus, as other drivers in the traffic jam were doing, he resolutely refused to do so and announced to all passengers: "I'm happy to sit her all day as long as they pay me."

Like all jobsworths in service industry, when locked into the way of officialdom, it's unlikely that this driver would appreciate the impact of his actions.

In this case, actions that will no doubt lead to the story of poor customer care on First Devon & Cornwall being broadcast by students the world beyond Cornwall, which, it could be argued, could easily tip a decision to holiday in Cornwall in favour of elsewhere.

The saddest part of this story is the missed opportunity this driver had to deliver good customer service for his organisation and also to promote Cornwall as a friendly place to visit.

Peter Marron Falmouth

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