A company which operated school bus services in Aberdeenshire has been issued with a road ban
A coach hire company which provided transport for schools in the North East area has been banned from operating by VOSA following an enquiry.
Vehicles at Keir’s Coaches (Kintore) in Aberdeenshire were described by a VOSA examiner as being amongst the worst he had ever seen during 12 and half years in service during a hearing.
The company had a contract with Aberdeenshire Council to provide school-run services. The coach which was used to transport children from Alford Academy was investigated in March last year.
The findings of the investigation included damage to the inside body panel, a broken interior light with jagged sharp edges left hanging loose causing a hazard, loose exterior body panels, and a defective luggage compartment catch. There were also issues with a leaking exhaust system, and one of the tyres was damaged, whilst the rest were worn beyond the legal limit.
Following the investigation Keir’s Coaches, whose vehicles was described as being like the type found “at the bottom of a yard with trees growing out of them” was issued with a road ban from the Traffic Commissioner of Scotland.
Bosses at Keir’s Coaches say they are dismayed to hear the news as it will mean job losses at the company. New owners, who took over after the problems were found at the firm, say they have been working hard to overcome the issues.
The whole school bus system in the united kingdom needs serious looking at. Children are meant to be precious to us but we send them to school on the oldest rolling stock that is patched up to be just good enough. Most contractors use old A to H reg vehicles. They register the routes to get the fuel tax duty (a legal fiddle?) but then dont run with school signs, this means any paedo can board and makes a mockery of CRB checks for drivers who have no contact with the kids anyway. The councils should really insist on newish vehicles (a bit like London do), running on school signs. After all it is their own council departments that will get the flack when something goes wrong.
When we first heard of this we asked Aberdeenshire Council for a comment.
We were told it was not as bad as it sounded.
Only the other day we were told by the same council that that some of
the comments and quotes used within the press article read slightly
differently when taken in context.
A Cop out & until Local Authorities start paying proper rates for school bus contracts, they will still get cowboys