Portugal coach driver is filmed ‘texting at the wheel’

A grandmother was ‘horrified’ after catching the driver of a packed Jet2 holiday coach she was on allegedly texting on his phone at the wheel.

In the shocking footage, the driver holds his mobile, appearing to be absorbed in sending messages, and only glancing momentarily at the road ahead.

Linda Harley, 59,  filmed the driver during an hour-long journey on the Algarve to her hotel in Albufeira, Portugal.

The grandmother, from Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, claims the coach even ‘swerved in the road’ as the driver allegedly texted and took calls numerous times at the wheel.

Ms Harley and her husband Archie boarded the coach, which was part of their Jet2 holiday package, at Faro Airport on June 17 along with the rest of their group of holidaymakers.

And after four months of worrying about what she saw, Ms Harley says she is now sharing the footage publicly for the first time in the hope that the company will investigate.

She said: ‘The coach was part of the Jet2 package we had. It was a full coach. We were first on. We had the prime spot on the coach to see what he was doing.

‘It was horrific. There were young families with kiddies and elderly couples on the coach – people of all different ages.

‘He probably took about two phone calls and sent a lot of text messages. As soon as he put the phone down, it was like he thought he could text someone else.

‘That’s not right. There’s no respect. You know you’re not in control at the wheel when you’re doing that.

‘I noticed he was doing it within a couple of minutes. I was watching him the whole journey. The driver didn’t speak any English.

‘He started off texting a couple of times, then somebody phoned him up so he was talking on his phone. After that, he picked up his phone again and sent a few more text messages. You could see he was swerving in the road while he was doing it.’

Ms Harley, a grandmother of one and mother of two, says she was extremely anxious throughout the journey.

And she says terrifying experiences of being involved in car crashes in the past made her even more concerned about the incident.

The retired NHS manager said: ‘I’ve been in two serious car crashes – one was a drunk driver who crashed into me and the other was a van. When that’s happened, you are more aware of things like that going on.

‘During the holiday I was worrying about getting the coach back to the airport and it being him driving again. He just doesn’t care. My main concern is that this guy is going to kill somebody doing that.’

She claims she contacted Jet2 on June 30 to complain about the driver’s behaviour.

Linda Harley, 59, from Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, filmed the driver during an hour-long journey on the Algarve to her hotel in Albufeira. She is pictured with her husband, Archie

But after allegedly hearing nothing more from the company regarding action being taken on the incident, she decided to share the footage publicly.

‘I complained to Jet2 and told them I had video of him doing it. I said to them that I wanted them to investigate this guy,’ she continued.

‘I thought they would be horrified but they didn’t seem too bothered. I was angry. How would I feel if I saw that driver had driven a coach off the road? 

‘So this month I decided to try them on social media. That got some attention.

‘I told them I’d already been through the complaints procedure. They were talking to me as if I was stupid. There’s been nothing else from them.

‘This guy really needs investigating, he really needs retraining. Something needs to be done. It’s putting lives in danger.’

A spokesperson for Jet2holidays said: ‘We would like to thank Linda for bringing this to our attention.

‘We work with partner suppliers to provide coach transfers and go through a strict process to ensure that drivers make safety their number one priority and do not use hand-held mobile phones whilst driving.

‘We take this footage extremely seriously and are investigating as a matter of absolute urgency.’