Some disciplinaries are hard to swallow. Please arrive on time/have a wash/stop calling your line manager Kev, even though you know he prefers Kevin – give it a rest.
But it seems hard to see how bus driver Prakash is going to kick up a stink about his current suspension – after he allowed a monkey to take the wheel of his vehicle.
Apparently this sort of thing is frowned upon, for some reason.
Credit: SWNS
I mean, you can imagine how the scene played out.
Prakash’s boss at Indian Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation: “Prakash, can you come to my office please?”
Prakash: “Oh what now? It’s not about the trainers again is it?”
Boss: “No Prakash, it’s not about the traine-”
Prakash: “Cos I’ve told you, I can’t get the heels to stop flashing. The mechanism is built into the sole so you’re gonna have to just acce-”
Boss: “Prakash – it’s not about your LED light up trainers… which we expressly told you not to buy.”
Prakash: “Well, what then?! That wasn’t me who got that speeding ticket! I wasn’t even on duty that day, I’d swapped shifts! Someone must have used my bus, probably that prick Eri-”
Boss: “Prakash, there is a video on the internet of you letting a monkey drive your bus.”
Prakash: “… Fuck.”
The video in question was recorded on 1 October and shows an Indian Langur monkey at the wheel of the bus, which appears to be travelling at a normal bus speed and does appear to have passengers on board. Now, while that does sound on paper a bit inappropriate, Prakash does have some mitigation.
Credit: SWNS
Firstly, it is reported that the monkey was the pet of one of the passengers and it was said to have jumped on the steering wheel. So it’s not like Prakash coerced the monkey into steering, nor are they a regular driving duo (sadly).
Secondly, while the monkey does clearly have a good old grip of the wheel (potentially even pioneering the ’10 and two and four and eight’ grip), Prakash does also keep one hand on the wheel.
Whether or not Prakash’s bosses will look upon this mitigation favourably is questionable, considering that he did let a monkey steer his bus
An official from Indian Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation, said: “Prakash has been taken off duty and a probe has been ordered against him. Endangering passengers’ life [sic] is not acceptable.”
To defend Prakash one last time, it wasn’t he who endangered passengers’ lives, it was the monkey.
