Wheels fell off Stagecoach buses, inquiry told

THE driver of a bus which lost a wheel shortly after the last passenger got off should have checked his vehicle before taking it out on the road, a public inquiry has heard.

Bus giant Stagecoach is under examination by Scotland's Traffic Commissioner into claims several incidents of wheels coming off its vehicles and fires were the result of alleged poor maintenance.

Stagecoach, founded by Brian Souter, could face a fine or the firm could have its licence withdrawn or limited if reports of maintenance shortcoming are upheld.

Mr Souter's company is one of five dominating the UK's bus market and is the second-biggest operator of bus services in Scotland as well as being a major player in the UK rail market.

Among the incidents being investigated at a two-day hearing in front of Joan Aitken, the Traffic Commissioner, was that of a Stagecoach bus which lost a wheel at Airdrie Road, Kilsyth, at 8:30am on 25 February last year.

David Mooney, group technical auditor for Stagecoach, who carried out a "major incident investigation", said this was the first incident of wheel loss in 20 years, which he said suggested the company's maintenance systems were operating properly.

He said: "The particular day the incident took place, the weather conditions were poor and the roads heavily rutted. The driver may not have heard any particular noise during the 50 miles he had travelled.

"Four out of six wheel studs were retrieved quite close to the incident. If it [the bus] had been running like that from the time it set out I don't think you'd have recovered the studs so near the scene."

However, George Courtney, vehicle examiner from the Department of Transport's Vehicle and Operator Service Agency, said he would have thought the driver would have felt something through the transmission and stopped earlier.

He also said that the defect with the wheel should have been detected when the driver made his first use/daily walk round check.

Mr Courtney said he had viewed CCTV footage and that at no time did the driver carry out those checks, therefore causing a significant failure in the maintenance system.

His report concluded: "By the bus operator's own admission, after investigation, there was not a meaningful full check carried out by the driver prior to the vehicle use on the day when the wheel became detached."

Later, examining evidence about wheels coming off buses in Fife, Ms Aitken asked if drivers' reluctance to report incidents of "kerbing" - where a bus is driven hard against the kerb, possibly damaging the wheels - was "cultural" because they feared punishment.

Stagecoach driver Gordon Taylor, a Unite union representative, said drivers were encouraged to report "scrapes and bumps" and would be fearful of not doing so, saying disciplinary action would only happen if the kerbing was a regular occurrence.

The company said that a "thermal incident" - a heat-generated incident with no flames - happened in a bus engine in Strathtay, Perthshire, two days after an oil leak had been repaired, but that the problem and been remedied to avoid a recurrence.

The hearing continues today.