Cavendish Liner lose licence following bridge crash and ‘lack of continuous and effective management’
Cavendish Liner, one of whose double-deckers hit a railway bridge in Bournemouth in April 2016 tearing its roof, has had its licence revoked by Traffic Commissioner (TC) Kevin Rooney.
The TC was told that the double-decker was significantly taller than the bridge and the roof was torn completely off. A number of the seats on the upper deck were folded completely flat by the impact.
The bus was carrying a group of children from Thailand attending the associated Cavendish School of English. Four children were on the top deck of the bus and had the foresight to get themselves out of the way of the fast-approaching bridge. Had they been distracted in some way, had there been more children, had they not been physically able to get out of the way for whatever reason, the results would have been catastrophic.
Nathan Santangelo-Barber, Operations Manager for Cavendish School of English, said that there were two contributory factors to the crash. The first was that the driver ignored three separate low bridge markers. He was suspended from duty and subsequently interviewed and dismissed.
The second contributory factor was that the Kirsty Fergusson, who at that time was fulfilling the role of a Transport Manager (TM) though unqualified, had re-allocated the double-deck vehicle to the job in order for it to be driven following having been subject to major maintenance in preparation for an MoT.
She had not checked that the route was suitable for that vehicle. He had not sought to take disciplinary action against her because she was the only person in the office who was able to arrange the school transport that was needed.
The TC commented that that was an appalling explanation. The root cause of the crash appeared to have been the lack of continuous and effective management of the transport operation as the company was operating without professional competence. Mr Santangelo-Barber was relying on professional advice being sought by Ms Fergusson from her partner who was a qualified TM.
In his decision, the TC said that he accepted that the company attempted to notify the loss of TM reasonably promptly and attempted to recruit a replacement. The issue, as he saw it, was that the bus operation was a small adjunct to a large business.
It did not receive the proper engagement it deserved from the Directors or the School’s Operations Manager. The finances were generally kept within School’s account, and it did not appear to have the autonomy it needed to make investment decisions. It was run as a limb of the school rather than as an entity in its own right. He did not think that the Directors fully realised that the lack of professional competence in early 2016 could easily have caused many lives to be lost. As currently constituted, this was not a business that is fit to operate public service vehicles.
TM Simon Gard was, on at least one occasion, paid by the school. Mr Gard had to contact a member of staff at school to get money available on a payment card. He considered that the businesses remained inter-linked, despite the previous two Public Inquiries that sought to resolve this issue.
