TC gives formal warning to north west operator

Stagecoach North West has been given a formal warning following a public inquiry following complaints some of its services were not operating in compliance with their timetables.

However, the Deputy Traffic Commissioner for the north west, Fiona Harrington, in her decision published on 1 August 2024 said that in this case the imposition of any penalty or sanction is not needed.

The operator was found to have failed to comply with certain of its registered services ‘without reasonable excuse’. However, the Deputy Traffic Commissioner said that in the case of this operator, it is also subject to region-specific additional factors, particularly concerning driver and skilled mechanic recruitment and retention that it has been actively addressing, additional to fleet investment, with demonstrated improvements achieved. However, she warned that if, in future, substantial and substantiated complaints are received from travelling passengers using the registered local services provided by this operator, or their elected representatives, a meaningful representative sample of the operator’s services in question shall be required from a fresh monitoring exercise by the DVSA.

The operator had been called to public inquiry by the Traffic Commissioner following complaints from members of the public and Parliament, which led to a DVSA investigation. The Public Inquiry took place at the OTC Golborne on 30 April 2024. The services that were in question as part of the DVSA investigation were services 5, 30, 50, X5 and the 685. It was found that less than 95% of services fell within the window of tolerance for punctuality (– 1 minute and + 5 minutes).

Stagecoach North West explained the particular challenges faced in its geographic area that had been identified by it as material contributing factors in the lost mileage and punctuality issues. The factors related to driver availability and a shortage of skilled mechanics to repair and maintain its fleet. The Deputy Traffic Commissioner found the steps described as taken and being taken by the operator to address these particular issues affecting this region, as well as substantial investment in new vehicles, to be ‘compelling and consistent’ with an operator taking reasonable steps to address the problems it has identified through its own various continuous methods of performance monitoring.