A Cumbrian bus operator has been warned that it must improve following a public inquiry on 30 April
Stagecoach North West Limited, which trades as Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire, has been issued with a formal warning for a its failure to operate certain registered bus services under section 6 of the Transport Act 2000. “In making this decision whilst I am satisfied that the operator has on occasions failed to comply with certain of its registered services ‘without reasonable excuse,’ I find that this is not a case where the imposition of any penalty or sanction is needed to focus the mind of this operator,” said deputy Traffic Commissioner for the North West Fiona Harrington, acknowledging that “bus operation is complex and susceptible to external factors.”
The operator was called to public inquiry (PI) by the Traffic Commissioner (TC) following complaints from members of the public and Parliament which led to a subsequent DVSA investigation in December 2023 and March 2024, reported through a Bus Compliance Assessment Report (BCAR). The services that were in question as part of the DVSA investigation were services 5, 30, 50, X5 and 685. As part of that investigation, the operator provided DVSA with manually combined data from its records to create a compliance score which provides a whole route level aggregate compliance percentage in line with the relevant guidance and which TC Harrington said was ‘within the window of tolerance of minus one minute and plus five minutes. The resulting figure was than 95%.
The PI took place at Golborne on 30 April 2024. The operator attended, represented by its Managing Director Tom Waterhouse and Head of Commercial Services David Rich, who is also one of the Transport Managers nominated on its operator’s licence. The operator was represented by James Backhouse of Backhouse Jones Solicitors.
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