German Tourists Get Taste of Scottish Drivers

Nothing about earning a bus driving licence could have prepared a coach driver for what he and his German passengers encountered recently. The bus was travelling at a good rate of speed on an Edinburgh motorway when it came in behind an older gentleman riding a scooter.

It wouldn’t have been so bad had the pensioner been maintaining the speed limit, but he wasn’t. According to the Mail Online, the scooter’s top speed was 4 mph. Making matters worse was the fact that oncoming traffic was already locked into a long jam. There was no room for the bus to pull out and overtake the scooter.

Some of the tourists were good sports about the whole thing, with one remarking that this was the reason Germany lost the war. Another likened the episode to Formula 1 racing. It all ended well with no one injured in the process.

With all the talk of dangerous coach and lorry drivers in the UK, this story presents a refreshing reminder that most drivers are more than safe. The driver in this case exercised remarkable restraint despite the fact that drivers behind him were likely becoming irate. We take our hat off to this coach driver.

Training and Patience Pay Off

At the HGV Training Centre, we don’t focus much of the training for the bus driving licence on following behind scooter-riding pensioners. Nonetheless, we do focus on the need for every coach driver to exercise patience behind the wheel. Driving a coach in the UK inevitably involves all sorts of traffic volumes and patterns, ranging from the busyness of London to the quiet country roads of the south-west.

Coach drivers must be trained to remain alert at all times. This story of the pensioner provides all the evidence needed to see why. Had the coach driver not been paying attention, he could have easily killed the pensioner with very little effort. Yet by staying alert, he was able to maintain a safe distance and speed.

At the HGV Training Centre, we specialise in providing high quality training for a number of commercial driving disciplines. We train for articulated lorries, heavy construction equipment, coaches and buses, horseboxes and horsebox trailers, forklifts, and more. We even train individual drivers looking to tow a small trailer or caravan.

We are proud to be one of the UK’s most respected providers of commercial training. We provide all of our training, including what is required for the bus driving licence, at more than 45 facilities throughout the country. We even send one of our trainers with you for your final practical skills test. We encourage you to get in touch with us today, whether you need new or remedial training.

We should remind HGV operators that next September’s deadline for CPC training is likely to be here faster than you know. It might be a good idea to get your drivers signed up for classes as soon as the holidays are over.