COACH FIRM SUPERVISION SLACK
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APRIVATE firm of coach hirers had a vehicle suspended for three months this week by Mr. A. B. Birnie, Chairman of the Scottish Traffic Commissioners, for overloading of passengers and using a vehicle which had had its p.s.v. licence suspended.
For William Miller, Calderbank, Mr. James Law explained that owing to a driver turning up late for duty, a relief driver had taken out a double-decker bus which was not licensed for taking children to school.
When the original driver arrived he noticed that by mistake the double-decker had been taken and he admittedly drove a singledecker bus to catch up with the doubledecker so that it could be returned to the firm's premises. But he was too late and in his journey picked up four schoolchildren who had been left behind and discovered that the single-deck bus was also not licensed to carry passengers. The firm had also contravened regulations in connection with overloading.
Mr. Birnie said supervision had been inadequate and the court was not satisfied that the business was being conducted in such a way that it could be confident about any effect on the public.
The court in this case would be lenient, but it must, in its duty to the public, impose some form of penalty. It would suspend the licence of one vehicle for three months and the operator could nominate which vehicle this would apply to.