Passengers stealing the emergency hammers from GO GEORGE buses are not only guilty of a punishable crime, but put their own lives and those of other passengers at risk.
GO GEORGE Manager, James Robb, has issued a serious warning to culprits this week. “National safety regulations require us to have a certain number of these little hammers installed on the buses. In case of an emergency situation like fire breaking out on a bus, or an accident, passengers can grab these hammers, which are required to be easily accessible, to break the windows and get out of the bus. Anyone caught stealing these hammers from the buses, will be prosecuted.”
Robb appeals to the public to make alarm on the bus when someone is seen stealing this equipment, and to strongly discourage such behaviour. “Apart from the safety risk, replacing stolen equipment is costing us a lot of money, and also takes time,” he said. “More than half of the hammers on the current bus fleet have already been stolen. We are investigating a more secure way of attaching the hammers to the buses, but the moment we make it more difficult for the culprits, we also make it more difficult for the passenger who needs to access the hammer during an emergency.”
Anyone with information about the theft of emergency hammers from the buses are requested to bring this under the attention of GO GEORGE by phoning the Call Centre on 0800 044 044. Please take note that the bus drivers are required to focus on safe driving, and are not responsible to enforce the law or regulations on the bus.