A number of things have struck me in recent issues of routeone.
President’s Diary [routeone/27 February] focused on the driver crisis and how Brexit may amplify the shortage.
Having read what I thought was balanced article, it did leave me with a feeling that another article has been produced that fails to deal with the root causes of driver shortage.
Driving is not attractive as a full-time occupation. Who wants to be at the beck and call of a manager scheduling work for all hours of the day and or night at a low rate of pay and not taking, or not able to take, into account work-life balance for drivers?
We see driver enforcement increasing and, for the most minuscule error, drivers face fines that are in excess of a day’s pay.
Facilities are reducing at destinations, parking restrictions are increasing and so on…
Secondly, I find it incredible that some operators are openly supporting Brexit.
There are a number of well-known coach operators involved in cabotage, which will have two options post-Brexit: Either open a European operation with all the costs involved, or watch their business disappear overnight as cabotage is not permitted under Interbus.
I fear many do not understand the utopia of yesteryear is long gone and coaching has change immeasurably.
Gary Clark,
Classic Bus Hire,
Wokingham