Exclusive:Bus operator McGill's fined almost £30k for catalogue of Midland Bluebird faults, including school bus fire
Firm given final warning and told repute “severely tarnished”
Bus firm McGill’s has been fined £29,700 and given a final warning for a string of vehicle faults at its Scotland East and Midland Bluebird operations that included a bus catching fire with school children on board.
Traffic Commissioner for Scotland Richard Turfitt said the repute of both had been “severely tarnished” after finding a catalogue of failures that led to poor punctuality.
McGill’s said the maintenance and punctuality problems had been “unacceptable”, but it had made improvements.
Mr Turfitt said he rejected the suggestion the operators might use funds instead of paying a penalty as it “would be to reward shareholders when the school children and public paid the price”.
His findings, published on Friday, stated: “I make very clear that these operators can no longer use the poor state of vehicles as an excuse for failing to meet published timetables.
“Both are given a final warning. I find the repute of each entity to be severely tarnished by the finding of maintenance issues. Deterrent action is required in order to achieve the aims of the statute and to ensure that levels of service match the expectations of the travelling public in Scotland.”
Incidents examined by Mr Turfitt included a Midland Bluebird bus catching fire on the A91 on November 28, 2023 while carrying some 30 pupils from Dollar Academy to Stirling.
He said passengers had alerted the driver to smoke, then flames, prompting her to pull the bus over and evacuate the vehicle.
READ MORE: Bus fires investigation launched by Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency after spate of blazes
Mr Turfitt said a report had concluded the bus had low coolant, which caused insufficient cooling to the cylinder head and exhaust gas recirculation cooler. This then led to “combustible fluids to leak from the engine onto hot components resulting in the thermal incident”.
He said an incident report showed the driver noticed the coolant warning light was illuminated near Tillicoultry, about seven miles before the fire was spotted. The driver was told to continue as there would be enough coolant to get to the Bannockburn depot.
Mr Turfitt said: “It was when she was driving through Blairlogie that a young passenger alerted her to smoke and, whilst she was looking for a safe place, flames emerged.”
The bus had been off the road earlier in the day with a reported “cold bus defect”, which led to a a coolant system boost pump being installed before it was returned to service.
A second Midland Bluebird fire two weeks later involved a bus, not carrying passengers, on the A811 west of Stirling, in which a fire extinguisher was used on a rear wheel. The wheel hub bearing was found to have suffered a catastrophic failure, causing the rear hub to fail.
Mr Turfitt said Midland Bluebird had breached the undertaking that vehicles would be kept fit and serviceable, and employ an effective written driver defect reporting system. But he noted the findings of “improvements in systems across the group”.
Greenock-based McGill’s took over the two bus operations in 2022.
A spokesperson for Midland Bluebird said: "We acknowledge the findings of the Traffic Commissioner and it is a matter of regret that we suffered unacceptable maintenance and punctuality issues, much of which arose immediately after we acquired the businesses in 2022.
"Since then, we’ve strengthened engineering leadership, introduced more detailed IRTEC [Institute of Road Transport Engineers Certificate] inspection at four-weekly intervals, and funded independent audits and monitoring with Bus Users Scotland.
"Importantly, we are also investing heavily in refreshing the fleet of vehicles. In September, we brought a new fleet of 30 zero-emission electric single-decker buses into operation in a £14 million investment, and we continue to work to reduce the average age of the fleet.
"Safety and reliability are non-negotiable for our business, and we will continue to work with regulators, councils and passengers to deliver a punctual, dependable network.”
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