Taxi Driver Online

Pensioners in tears as EU rules force axe of their 'lifeline' bus service

More than 1,000 people rely on East Staffs Mobility Link to get around


https://www.burtonmail.co.uk/news/burto ... es-1425240



Pensioners who used a "lifeline" bus service have been left in tears after being told it is shutting down - due to EU rules.

East Staffs Mobility Link, which helps more than 1,000 elderly and isolated residents get about, is being forced to close with the loss of 10 jobs.

And manager Sue Gardner says a major reason is because drivers have been ordered to undergo training courses to comply with regulations from Brussels - even though Britain is set to leave the EU.

The Stapenhill Road-based not-for-profit organisation, which runs the Dial-a-Ride service providing door-to-door service for elderly and disabled passengers heading into Burton, will axe its 5,000 journeys a month.

The closure has been triggered by the absence of future funding and changes to the operating vehicle licensing laws announced by the Government. Transport bosses say this is to keep Britain in line with EU laws.

The news will come as a blow to its 1,000-plus elderly, disabled and socially-isolated customers from across Burton and the surrounding areas, who are often helped from their front door to board the bus before they are taken to their destinations – all for a heavily discounted rate.

They will now be forced to rely on other, more expensive forms of transport. It will also leave 10 drivers without a job.

Sue Gardner, who has managed East Staffs Mobility Link for 20 years, will now be retiring, having turned 67.

She said: "It is devastating. We have between 1,000 and 1,500 customers and make 5,000 journeys a month and we have 10 drivers.

"It is people in rural areas such as Hanbury and Needwood. Many of them will be upset. I have had some people in tears.

"Our drivers would go to their door to pick them up and take them to the bus and then take them to the supermarket. Some others just used the bus for company and would just ride around.

"People can use a taxi but with their pension they just cannot afford it."

Mrs Gardner has partly blamed the closure on the Department for Transport's changes to the PSV (Public Service Vehicle) operator licences which now requires non-for-profit organisations to put their drivers through training and testing.

Previously, just commercial drivers were required to hold the licence.

She said this would cost £7,000 in the first year and then there would be extra costs in following years. Mobility Link would also have to obtain an operators' licence and become a business.

She said: "Drivers have to have this operators’ licence now to carry on with contracts and it costs about £7,000 to put them through training and we just cannot afford it.”

Since East Staffs Mobility Link was set up in 1997, it has relied heavily on funding from local government but the annual grant was withdrawn in February 2016.

"During that year, the charity responded to the cuts by widening the scope of operations and took on new school contracts as well as rural routes.

"Many applications to local and national charity funders were also made to try and stem the reduction in finances.

Then, it was announced, last year, that Staffordshire County Council was putting the contracts for its Dial-A-Ride services under review in a bid to save cash.

East Staffs Mobility Link was handed a reprieve by funder Consolidated Charities, which donated £45,000 to enable its Dial-a-Ride service to continue but now the money has run out.

Mobility Link's Dial-a-Ride Needwood service, which operates in areas including Hanbury and Tatenhill, costs £53,000 alone a year for the county council to subsidise. This contract is now no longer funded by the authority.

Mark Deaville, Staffordshire County Council's cabinet member for commercial, said: "I am saddened to hear the news as East Staffs Mobility Link has been a valued part of the community.

"The group had a contract won through competitive tender to provide a service to the county council, but that contract ceased two years ago because there was no longer a need for it."

Regarding the Dial-A-Ride service, he said: "Following an eight week public consultation last year on how best to spend the county council’s £1.3 million annual bus subsidy, we chose the option that safeguards most journeys and had the greatest public support.

"That meant existing Dial-A-Ride services were no longer funded by the county council and East Staffs Mobility Link's contract to provide the service ran out at the end of last month.

"The county council is currently working with bus operators, district and borough councils, parish councils and local community groups to explore options in the area and is seeking bids for the provision of an amended Dial-A-Ride service there and we had expected East Staffs Mobility Link to be among the bidders."

However, Mrs Gardner has said changes to the PSV (Public Service Vehicle) operator licences mean the extra costs are unaffordable.

Since 1985, all community transport groups that are operating on a not-for-profit basis, such as East Staffs Mobility Link, have been able to apply for permits to carry passengers in a bus or minibus without first holding the PSV licence that would otherwise be required.

However, concerns have recently been raised that some community transport operators are competing with commercial operators, which are required to hold a PSV licence.

This is not allowed by European Union law, which only exempts operators from holding PSV licences in limited circumstances.

A spokesman for the Department for Transport said: "We recognise that community transport provides a vital service, particularly in the more remote areas. However, some operators may need to ensure they and their drivers have professional licences, especially if they compete for commercial contracts.

"We are currently consulting on how community transport has evolved and how organisations can be helped in the future."

East Staffs Mobility Link was also hit hard in November 2015 when it was informed of East Staffordshire Borough Council's decision to reject applications for grant aid.

However, a council spokesman said: "The council last allocated funding to Mobility Link in 2015 so is unable to provide evidence that this would have had an effect in the last three years or comment on the impact of the cuts by the county council on this service.

"At this stage we are unable to comment further on the financial affairs of Mobility Link."

Tim Standley, the chairman of the Board of Trustees of Mobility Link Ltd, announced the service will close on April 30.

He said:"This will be a great blow for our customers, many of whom have depended on us for several years. Our staff have tried everything to keep the charity going, including being flexible over working hours and are a dedicated and caring group of people.

"They have built up a real friendship with many of our customers and that is something that everyone will miss."

And manager Sue Gardner says a major reason is because drivers have been ordered to undergo training courses to comply with regulations from Brussels - even though Britain is set to leave the EU.

in other words drivers have to come into line with everyone else


The closure has been triggered by the absence of future funding and changes to the operating vehicle licensing laws announced by the Government. Transport bosses say this is to keep Britain in line with EU laws.

strikes me that what they are saying is give them an UNFAIR competitive advantage or massive taxpayer subsidies like the call connect operation in Lincolnshire and elsewhere

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Why shift the blame on yet another government incompetence to the EU? The laws on driving buses were changed many years ago and the UK government failed to obey its OWN laws and turned a blind eye to the ever-increasing "community bus" market. Those laws were in place since 1932 and earlier. That the DfT chose to interpret UK laws incorrectly for a large numbers of years is appalling.

For too long the CT buses have "got away" with all sorts of breaches of UK law; it is mainly due to the actions of Martin Allen and a few others insisting that the government obey its own laws! that the EU has laws that are similarly worded does not make it an EU law, but those EU laws were taken into UK law without fuss and totally ignored. Now they've been sussed.

The notion that if/when we "leave" the EU will alter things won't make any difference. The uK law will not change, and anyone driving and carrying passengers for hire and reward will need a psv licence, driver CPC and the vehicle will still need an O licence etc. Any bus driver crossing into Europe will still need a valid DCPC to drive there.

I was speaking to martin Allen the other week about costs of running minibuses legally and will come up with an educated answer soon!

"The group had a contract won through competitive tender to provide a service to the county council, but that contract ceased two years ago because there was no longer a need for it."

"During that year, the charity responded to the cuts by widening the scope of operations and took on new school contracts as well as rural routes."

So competing with properly licenced operators for carrying people for hire and reward, breaking the law. Maybe the clue is in the words "contract" and "competitive tender"?

Maybe a commercial operator could do the job more cheaply, has anyone ever asked?

And training the drivers to be compliant is such a bad thing?

If people want to run a bus service then run a bus service and don’t scrimp and save over standards.

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IDFIMH

Maybe if those directors of such "not for Profit" Charity wheels set ups took less for themselves and directed that saving into carrying out their services in a legal manner and using legally qualified Drivers and Vehicles then they could keep operating in the real world that the rest of us have to work in.

Such "not for Profit" scams should have been obvious for all to have seen through years ago, they charge more collectively whilst they pretend to charge less individually and at the same time they dupe councils to sponsor their little wheezes.

I've no sympathy for such groups, i'm only sad that the people who use them were let down by them.

Fat cats are fat cats even in the world of Pseudo charity groups of any type....mostly they make more money for the bosses than ever benefits it's clients...they are all the same.

Fechin says it all really...since when was School Contracts Charity work??

And the EU was never to blame for their absence of future funding, the trouble is if you allow thousand to become reliant on so called charity it's damned near impossible to wean them off it afterwards, they get to expect everything for nowt.

Charity begets Charity..

It could be a good idea for someone who understands the law to write to the Burton Mail and furnish them with some facts.
Then see if they print them.

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Grandad,

let us know how you get on

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Unfortunately I don't understand it enough to make any representation.

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Grandad,

I may well do when I get some spare time. It gets a bit tedious repeating the me stuff every other week, maybe I should cut and paste the last post I done on this.

None of us in the bus industry have any objection to any of the CT operators getting properly licenced then they can compete with us on a level field and find out the real costs. you never know, they my find they cn provide a better service cheaper using paid staff and better utilisation of their minibuses.