A former employee at the Bannockburn depot has poured cold water on a bus operator’s reasoning behind a shortage of local bus drivers.
The driver shortage has caused a reduction of bus services across the region, including the introduction of an ‘emergency timetable’ and the cancellation of the X53 service connecting Stirling with Clackmannanshire.
Operators First Scotland have already faced criticism from commuters and bus users after cutting services following the shortage, which it blamed on factors including the weaker availability of European drivers and delays in the DVLA processing new provisional licences to candidates.
This was recently followed by further issues on availability caused by the surge in Covid-19 cases linked to the Omicron variant.
However, a former staff member who served at Bannockburn before leaving last year has claimed the issues actually lay with First’s handling of a recent negotiation with drivers over pay and conditions which left many disillusioned.
The ex-employee told the Observer: “They said it was due to the DVLA but that was never a problem at Bannockburn - I think there was only one person I can remember that was unable to drive and that was because of a medical issue.
“They also said we lost loads of drivers to Brexit, but we never had any European drivers and in terms of Covid, we only ever had one off and two isolating during the entire pandemic.
“There are a few things affecting why the public isn’t getting a reliable service, the first one is the fact they don’t want to renew the fleet and the buses serving Bannockburn and Balfron are the dumping ground of the entire First network.
“These things have been going around Glasgow for 19 years and are poorly maintained - drivers were spending more time sitting at the side of the road than driving.
“In November, the company also went through a wage negotiation with all of the drivers and while the company will say drivers were offered a wage rise, most of the terms and conditions were taken away.”
According to the source, that decline in conditions included the disappearance of so-called ‘spread over’ shifts and a cut in the holiday entitlement for new starts.
He says that alongside himself, he is aware of experienced employees with more than 20 and 30 years of service to the company having left due to the current issues.
The ex-employee added: “It’s got nothing to do with Brexit or Covid, drivers were just sick of being treated poorly so started leaving.
“The workforce is disillusioned and the company have taken advantage of the Covid situation and used it as a label for poor decision making, with drivers being left to take the brunt of it from the public when it isn’t their fault.”
In response, a First Bus spokesman said: “Like most businesses around the UK, we’ve experienced a perfect storm of Covid-19 related issues of increased Track and Trace isolation cases, coupled with issues around DVLA delays in releasing provisional PCV licences to new candidates and an overall industry-wide driver shortage which has been heightened by the pandemic.
“Additionally, the spread of Omicron across the country has resulted in an increase of instances where drivers have to self-isolate in line with Scottish Government guidance.”
“We’re doing absolutely everything possible to maintain a comprehensive network of services that supports our customers and key workers.”
“Furthermore, we’ve introduced a number of measures to make our recruitment offering more attractive in the face of an increase in competition for the need for skilled drivers currently being experienced across a number of sectors.
“These include competitive sign on bonuses and a substantial increase in the starter rate of pay to £11 per hour. ”
“In terms of fleet, we have a fleet renewal programme underway at our Balfron and Bannockburn depots that will see newer buses come into service across the network.
“These nearly new vehicles are fitted with Euro 6 Ultra Low Emission engines that will vastly reduce carbon emissions when compared to the older vehicles that they’ll replace.”
