Examination of Witnesses (Questions 300-319)
MR LES
WARNEFORD, MR
DENIS WORMWELL,
MS NICOLA
SHAW, MR
MIKE COOPER,
MR PETER
HUNTLEY AND
MR JOHN
WAUGH
28 JUNE 2006
Q300 Graham Stringer: Perhaps you
could tell us how many inspections there have been when buses
have not been found roadworthy?
Mr Cooper: The bulk of vehicle
inspections are successfully concluded and found to be roadworthy.
I am quite happy to give the Committee the data to support that
around the UK.
Q301 Graham Stringer: What did First
Group do when the wheels fell off your buses and how did you change
your inspection regimes?
Ms Shaw: As I say, inspection
regimes have been changed fairly radically since the events I
think you are talking about in Manchester some time ago, and we
have introduced the standard operating procedures I have described
which bring in best practice from across the group to make sure
that everybody in the group is maintaining vehicles to the same
standard.
Q302 Graham Stringer: Have any of
you had inspections recently that have found buses that needed
to have prohibitions put on them?
Mr Wormwell: We monitor PG9 instances
every month at our board meetings. We have very, very few instances
and we have a very, very high first-time MOT pass rate.
Q303 Graham Stringer: Would anybody
care to quantify the number of prohibitions you get a year?
Mr Warneford: The Stagecoach average
across our fleet is 95% of the vehicles are prohibition free.
I cannot remember the split between delayed and immediate, delayed
being less serious than immediate.
Q304 Graham Stringer: I do not want
to distort what you are telling me because at least you are volunteering
some figures. Does that mean on random inspections 5% of the vehicles
get either a delayed or an immediate prohibition notice put on
them?
Mr Warneford: Yes, but it really
does need to be taken in context as to what a prohibition notice
is given for. It can be a torn seat cushion on a school run.
Mr Wormwell: I would like to add
to that. We have 92% prohibition-free. For instance, it may be
a seat belt in a coach which would be issued with a prohibition
notice.
Q305 Graham Stringer: First Group?
Ms Shaw: My figures are slightly
higher than that but I would make the same argument.
Q306 Graham Stringer: You mean they
are better or worse?
Ms Shaw: We have more prohibitions
across the country per bus than as described by my colleagues.
Q307 Graham Stringer: Five, 10, 15%?
Ms Shaw: The national average
is I think 13%.
Q308 Graham Stringer: And First Group?
Ms Shaw: That is the national
average for First Group and the national average for the whole
of the country for buses is higher than that.
Mr Warneford: The industry average
pass rate is about 91%.
Q309 Chairman: Should bus services
be exempt from the Competition Act?
Mr Huntley: I think we made a
suggestion in our written evidence that because of the particular
local details that apply to many of the ticketing and co-ordination
schemes that this is an area that would be more properly lodged
with either the Traffic Commissioner or the local transport authority.
If the local transport authority is happy that in a particular
instance two operators working together is in the public benefit
there does not seem to us to be any reason why the Office of Fair
Trading should overrule local elected members who are looking
after the people in their area.
Q310 Chairman: Well, they are overruling
it because they have got the powers and because they do not agree.
Are you saying that they should or should not?
Mr Huntley: They should not have
the power. Under the block exemption there is a provision whereby
local co-ordination agreements could be delegated to another body,
ie the local transport authority, to issue a certificate of exemption,
which would give operators the confidence to know that they could
engage in those discussions and could engage in the provision
of a facility which the local community has asked for.
Q311 Chairman: Do you have difficulty
recruiting drivers?
Ms Shaw: Chairman, we have had
difficulty in recruiting drivers. I think the difficulties are
being turned round at the moment. It is fairly well publicised
that we have recruited from Eastern Europe where we have not been
able to recruit drivers locally.
Q312 Chairman: Eastern Europe? Do
they speak English? Do you make sure that they are capable of
understanding traffic signs and that they know all the relevant
regulations?
Ms Shaw: We put them through a
significant test programme before they go on the road.
Q313 Chairman: Do all your drivers
receive professional training?
Ms Shaw: Yes.
Q314 Chairman: How long?
Ms Shaw: They all train before
they start. It depends on how long they take to get through the
course. The average is between three and four weeks, I think,
but I can take advice on that, and then they get training every
year. We will also be under the European regulation shortly which
requires us to introduce training over the course of five years.
Q315 Chairman: What level of complaints
do you get from passengers about bad driving? Does anybody know?
Mr Wormwell?
Mr Wormwell: I do not know exactly
that figure on bad driving but I think it is low. We get 24,000
complaints a year.
Q316 Chairman: What are they about
mostly?
Mr Wormwell: They are mostly about
reliability, punctuality and frequency.
Q317 Chairman: I see. Mr Warneford?
Mr Warneford: I do not have the
figures, I am afraid.
Q318 Chairman: You will let us have
those?
Mr Warneford: We will.
Q319 Chairman: Mr Cooper?
Mr Cooper: I have not got those
figures to hand but I can certainly let the Committee have them.
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