Bus driver arrested by ticket inspectors - passengers and bus company are upset

[Bobjork]

It all happened friday afternoon in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Newspapers says:
A bus driver at Transdev (former Veolia) was on his way home, still in uniform, after an 11 hour workday.
Ticket inspectors entered the bus he travelled with and he showed them his employee card and uniform.
The ticket inspectors wanted to see another card, some special yellow card, that the driver did not have, and neither he or Transdev even knew he needed, and an argument started.
The argument quickly escalated as the inspectors, according to witnesses, became aggressive and screamed at the man that "You need a ticket, do you understand that" and then with force dragged the bus driver out of the bus, where people started filming the rest of the event.

Security guards (for some reason not Community Service Officers) came to the scene and put the busdriver in handcuffs.
In the film one of the guards can be seen and heard as he verbally abuse the man when he is sitting on the ground (the best in a situation like this when a man is in handcuffs and are calm would be to keep calm and wait for police to arrive, not start to argue about events you did not witness).

The police arrives and the guard and the inspectors leave as the police officers calm and professionally take the man to their car and passengers tell the police that they are witnesses.
The bus driver was reported for assaulting a police officer (n sweden that law does not only apply to police officers but also taxi drivers, bus drivers, conductors, anyone in uniform, police officers etc) and the bus driver reported the inspectiors for assault. (but actually, both parties should be reported for assaulting a police officer as they both are protected by the same law.)

I was not on that bus, so I can't say exactly what happened there. But I think everyone can agreee that the situation is quite bizarre and also ended in a way that noone wanted. The passengers on the bus tells newspapers that the busdriver was not in any way violent when the ticket inspectors started to use violence, but again, I wasn't there. But something went wrong.
(The text above is based on articles and on the video).
Haven't found any articles in english about this)

Transdev, G4S (Security & Ticket Inspectors) and Västtrafik (Passenger transport authority of Västra Götaland County) will have a meeting on monday and discuss the matter. The bus driver was injured, but it was only a minor injury, and is on payed leave.

http://www.gp.se/nyheter/goteborg/1....for-tjuvakning Google Translate
http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article20882340.ab (Can't be translated in Google Translate)
http://www.gp.se/nyheter/goteborg/1....ufforen-uppror Google Translate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7M4EenLg-U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ7ywtT7wb0

Busdrivers are writing on Västtrafik's facebook that they will not let any ticket inspectors board their bus and passengers are posting hateful comments on Västtrafik's facebook about the incident,
People are also praising Transdev for quickly announcing that the driver may have been misinformed by them.
The ticket inspectors for Västtrafik already had a bad reputation among the people (even those who have a ticket)

[Fazer9553]

Look up "Jobsworth"
Seems Sweden, like everywhere else, has this.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as "A person in authority (esp. a minor official) who insists on adhering to rules and regulations or bureaucratic procedures even at the expense of common sense."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jobsworth

[Bobjork]

Originally Posted by Fazer9553

Look up "Jobsworth"
Seems Sweden, like everywhere else, has this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jobsworth

Yes... it sounds like it applies to this situation...

And I wan't to add that of course the driver wasn't driving the bus, he was on his way home, and he had been informed that he could travel to and from work with his employee card if he was in uniform.

[coastie]

DEFINITELY a jobsworth then!

[Bobjork]

People are still commenting on Västtrafiks facebook page. Thy have only made two statements: That they will talk with all involved before saying anything about the incident and that they can say that what is seen on the video is not what they stand for.

Around 30 busdrivers are now gathered outside the bus depot as the meeting is going on between Transdev, G4S and Västtrafik.
They demand answers on several questions and also demand that they get special travel cards for use when travelling between home and job.

[Bobjork]

Yesterday G4S (the company responsible for ticket inspectors as well as the guards) and Västtrafik (Public Transport Authority) apologized for the incident, both offically and directly to the driver.
The involved guards and inspectors are not allowed to perform their duties on any of Västtrafik's trams, buses or trains and an investigation is ongoing.
The public, that is, the daily commuters, are not satisfied.
One of the witnesses on the bus, who also had a uniform and had some troubles with the text-me-a-ticket but could continue her journey, now tell her story of what happened:
http://www.gp.se/nyheter/goteborg/1....lev-nedbrottad Google translate

A demonstration against violence and racism from ticket inspectors will be held on sunday.
I don't think we have heard the end of this story yet.
The police investigation is still ongoing.

[G-CPTN]

Sounds like a 'bugger's muddle'.

[Bobjork]

Originally Posted by G-CPTN

Sounds like a 'bugger's muddle'.

Definitely.
If the goal was to prevent bus drivers from fare dodging (which I believe they rarely do) they failed badly...
Västtrafik changed the way the ticket inspectors should work, after several incidents like this, but involving passengers and inspectors. The reputation for the ticket inspectors was starting to get better since then but now, with this incident, it's lower than before 2013...

[Bobjork]

Today Västtrafik terminated the contract with G4S.
Västtrafik says that G4S have violated the agreed requirements for execution of the service and that they therefore terminated the contract.
G4S have chosen not to make any public comments yet but will be making one later today.

Vässtrafik have also said that the drivers are allowed to go back to the depot after the end of the shift, if that where their shift started.
The ticket inspectors therefore were in the wrong an the bus driver did have a ticket (uniform+employee card).

Expressen (Google translate)

SVT (Google Translate)

[G-CPTN]

AFAIK, local bus drivers seem to travel 'freely' on same-company services.

Of course, we are a small rural depot and the drivers probably know each other by sight - not like a city service.