itagecoach fined
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Stagecoach, the Perth in>endent, was accused last ek of being "scandalously !sponsible" in carrying 97 Isengers on a 77-seat ible-decker when it was si £500 at the Perth Sheriff !rt.
Die company originally ded the charge but changed plea to guilty at the last lute. Depute fiscal John Kirk said that the police were alerted by someone who wanted to get on the bus on July 7 last year, but noticed that it was already crowded with people standing on both decks.
When the bus was stopped on the outskirts of Perth, the police found 10 people standing on the lower deck, three in front of the driver, five sitting on the stairs and five standing upstairs.
The horrendous implications of that were easy to imagine said Kirk and the company was scandalously irresponsible.
For Stagecoach, Steven McLaren said that on the night in question, it had two singledeckers and one doubledecker in Dundee. It arranged for another single-decker to come from Perth but it broke down on the way.
The conductress was faced with three options. She could have left the extra passengers behind but it was the last bus.
She could have transferred Glasgow passengers on to the Edinburgh bus and re-arranged things once they reached Perth. That would have solved the problem as it would have given an extra 17 seats with eight standing.
She chose the third option of allowing the passengers to stand on the bus.
Sheriff John Wheatley said he regarded the offence as extremely serious as the regulations had been drawn up carefully to protect public safety.