Council defends bus stance

Mr Hillier, a partner at Foxhambased Hatts Coaches, near Chippenham, was furious when he saw school buses being used that were more than 15 years old at the start of the new school term on Monday.

New contracts for the Wootton Bassett School and the John Bentley School in Calne went out to tender in March with the condition that buses were less than 15 years old for the duration of the five year contract.

But Mr Hillier, who was unsuccessful in his own bid, says corners are being cut to ensure the cheapest price and that Wiltshire County Council is sacrificing quality in order to save money.

"If I tender for something I like it to be on an even playing field and for everyone to have the same rules," he said.

"But when I see the successful contractors operating outside the contract it's very frustrating and I've just about had enough of it."

Mr Hillier will now have to make about five drivers redundant as a result of losing the contract but insists it isn't a case of sour grapes.

"The county council told us that we weren't the next cheapest tender so we probably wouldn't have won anyway but there should be the same rules for everyone," he said.

A Wiltshire County Council spokesman said the contract did specify that no coaches over 15 years old could be used for the school run.

However, he said the council always gave contractors a grace period to fulfil the terms of the contract.

"It's entirely up to them how they handle it whether they buy new coaches or transfer others from another route but we are fully expecting them to comply with the contract," he said.

He said if the company was not using newer coaches within a reasonable timescale, the contract would be looked at again. He added that all complaints were taken seriously and fully investigated.

But Mr Hillier, whose company runs the Wigglybus contract for Wiltshire County Council, was not satisfied by the answer. He said: "The council doesn't follow through with their threats because the contractors are doing it cheaply. It's all money related at the end of the day.

"Why haven't they specified a time limit within this grace limit?"

Phoenix Coaches, based in Lyneham and Swindon, won the contracts to supply buses to Wootton Bassett School and John Bentley School.

It has seven contracts to supply coaches for Wootton Bassett School and two contracts to supply coaches to John Bentley.

Phoenix's maintenance manager Paul Ratcliffe said the contract allowed for coaches with more than 53 seats to be up to 17 years old and that the company had spent £180,000 in the last four weeks buying newer coaches.

He confirmed that one coach currently being run was over the specified age limit but that it was only while repairs were being carried out to a newer coach.

He said: "One vehicle is outside the limit and the council is aware of that. It's one of our reserve vehicles which we have in case we have a problem and we'll have the newer coach back on the road within a month.

"We're getting a lot of flack from other operators at the moment because we've got better facilities and work shop facilities and can offer more competitive tenders."

In September the Gazette reported how Mr Ratcliffe had to sleep in one of his coaches to guard against vandals after yobs caused £15,000 damage when they smashed all the windows on three of his vehicles.

Mr Ratcliffe believes there could have been a racial motive for the attack, which happened between 11pm on September 19 and 3am the next day, as the buses targeted were being used to take ethnic minorities to work.

Earlier this year rocks were thrown at a coach carrying Goan workers from Faccenda chicken factory in Sutton Benger, near Chippen-ham.

To stop further attacks Mr Ratcliffe has employed security guards at both his depots and has installed CCTV cameras on board the buses.