school transport. state of minibus

Imp

tanith wrote: »

What a rediculous thing to say....... the bus company have a duty to provide roadworthy vehicles and as someone else said a vehicle with rust holes in it should fail the MOT!

dark_lady wrote: »

Tanith a lot of people on this forum think that if you are an employer or a public body that you should be able to get away with anything!

My appologies. Sometimes I think considering all outcomes and how you would overcome them is important.

Sometimes, if you absolutely rely on a service, telling the whole world how wonderful it is, and how much it means to you, can do more for its survival than complaining and telling people about its problems. If it is seen as a valued service, it is more likely to be treated as a valued service. If it is regularly denigrated by its users, than when the budget needs cutting, it is more at risk.

meritaten

WelshSue, this wouldnt happen to be a small family run bus company, which actually were taken to court over a bus which caused serious injury to a young passenger, when its gearing mechanism (I think) disintegrated and smashed into her legs? Its well known in this Valley for the appalling state of most of its vehicles?

mikey72

Contact vosa.
They will arrange a spot check of the school bus.

meritaten

WelshSue - if you could manage to take a pic of your daughter alighting from the school bus - and one of its vehicle reg? It could be that they tell the LEA its one of their new buses, but they are actually using an old one?

pigpen

ilikewatch wrote: »

O RLY? - I always thought that rust holes were only a problem if (in the opinion of the MOT tester) they compromised the structural integrity of the vehicle or had sharp, jagged edges that would pose a risk to other road users/pedestrians.

That is correct (my stepadad is a mechanic and he just popped round so I asked him). If it is a cosmetic issue it is not taken into account.

Whereas the gear box not working is dangerous.. rust in a door isnt.

Look at how many of those old VW campers are on the road.. they are rust held together with paint! MOT tests the workings of the important parts not how pretty it looks..

My stepdad was driving an ancient Ford.. we called it the teabag it had so many holes.. but it passed the MOT every time without a glitch.

lostinrates

S reg is VERY old?

mikey72

There are different rules for psv's.
I've reported our school bus, vosa checked it, and removed it.

Imp

lostinrates wrote: »

S reg is VERY old?

Hey, my car is an old F reg - with black number plate and everything. New S reg is but a baby.

lostinrates

Imp wrote: »

Hey, my car is an old F reg - with black number plate and everything. New S reg is but a baby.

Our last car was G reg...and refurbished and was fine until dh and the ice had an arrangement. I'm used to older commercial veheicles, because after their commercial life they sometimes become horse boxes.....my first horse box was older than me...

obviously a vehicle needs to be maintained, and rust should be attented to as part of that, but ''old'' and running well and soundly and cleanly is fine, better than higher taxes/costs to buy ''new ones'' every five years...IF the ''old'' one is safe.

nuttywoman

I used to be a passenger assistant going to schools and sometimes when we arrived at the school there`d be people waiting to check out the transport .If the vehicles were`nt fit they`d be pulled straight off the road.Its good that your reporting this .