I was meeting an arriving delegate last night off the 21:05 National Express coach from London ... I duly went to the stop in the Market Square at about 10 to nine as the coach often arrives early, and indeed it pulled in a couple of minutes later, except it stopped on the roundabout about 50 yards away and disgorged it's Melksham Passengers there; I dashed over to greet my guest, and asked the driver whether that was the normal stop.  "I've been driving on this route for seven years and I always stop here.  It's too tight around the Market Sqaure to go to the official stop".  And with a puff of cigarette smoke into my face, he was back on board and off.   Leaving me with questions ...

a) If there's a problem with the location of the current stop, why hasn't it been moved; it's confusing at present.  Don't tell me there hasn't been time - they have had seven YEARS.

b) Is it regarded as safe and official to stop on the roundabout?

c) Is it common and accepted practise for coach drivers to smoke in close proximity to their customers, all be it legally / outside the coach?

d) The coach left to continue its journey some 8 minutes before schedule. Are drivers aware when they do / don't have passengers to pick up, making early running a reasonable practise?   Had I turned up 'on spec' to catch this coach to Frome at 9 p.m., I would have had a major problem!

As a general comment, the driver came across as rude / less than caring. I felt it could have been just me being sensitive until my visitor told me that he had arrived at the coach in the last couple of minutes before it left Victoria, having queued for a ticket for 20 minutes, and the driver had complained that he had to reopen the luggage doors and shouldn't have let him on.