Spot checks catch West Mids
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• West Midlands Travel has had prohibition notices issued against 50 of its buses in Vehicle Inspectorate spot checks over the past six weeks.
Prohibitions were issued to vehicles at Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton, where 420 of WMT's 1,700strong fleet are based.
However, the majority of the prohibitions were delayed and the vehicles were fixed within a matter of hours, says WMT: 'Most of them had very minor faults such as missing screws which made a seat loose." Other faults included cracked seat frames and broken indicator lights.
"They were not faults which would have made the buses unsafe. But the Department of Transport quite rightly imposes stringent standards," says WMT. Spot checks at other WMT depots did not result in any prohibitions.
The Vehicle Inspectorate says the investigations were part of its Birmingham district office's standard spot checks, but a contact at WMT suspects the company was targeted because it underwent a managementled employee buyout last December.
The West Midlands Passenger Transport Authority, which uses WMT for "socially necessary bus services", says it is "concerned" about the prohibitions.
"The service in the West Midlands has not been affected and that is the most important issue to the Passenger Transport Authority," says West Midlands PTA chairman Phil Bateman. "And at least somebody is look ing at the safety of passengers," he adds.
"But it is a concern that so many prohibitions have been issued against a good operator like West Midlands Travel, which is regarded as one of the best respected and one of the five biggest operators in the country. It just shows that some smaller operators which are putting museum pieces on the road should have a good going over."
Although the Transport and General Workers' Union agrees the prohibitions are "something of a concern" it does not believe passengers are in danger.
The TGWU's Midlands regional passenger officer John Partridge, says: "We are aware that West Midlands Travel tries to rigorously maintain its vehicles. This could happen in the best of regulated companies which have 14 garages with hundreds of drivers and vehicles — a safety check is bound to identify matters not 100% right."
WMT does not know if the case will go before the traffic commissioner who has the power to revoke an Operator's Licence.