Pulham’s Coaches has become the first operator to complete a new combined DVSA Earned Recognition and Guild of British Coach Operators audit that has continued the Cotswolds business’s accreditation by both schemes. It follows the introduction of a partnership between the two quality assurance programmes in November 2022.
Multiple other Guild members are also already part of ER. It is the intention that all Guild participants will be accredited by DVSA’s best practice scheme “within three years,” says Administrator Steve Whiteway.
Mr Whiteway explains that the Guild has agreed with DVSA to combine the two audits for both existing Guild members and those applying. “It avoids duplication,” he says, noting that the Guild and ER are complementary schemes. “The Guild module is more related to service and quality, as the safety aspects of the Guild audit are covered by ER.”
Pulham’s Coaches’ joint audit represents the business’s second ER standards check and its fourth for the Guild. Past experience has shown that audits for both are rigorous “and leave no stone unturned,” says Finance Director Kathryn Pulham. “But in my opinion, that is the point.”
Membership of ER and the Guild are key to Pulham’s demonstrating “extensive levels of compliance and engagement throughout or business,” adds Mrs Pulham. “We have a unique and very special relationship with our colleagues in the Guild, benefiting enormously from networking and sharing best practice.”
Those Guild members that are not yet ER accredited will become so when their bi-annual Guild audits fall due. DVSA’s online listing of ER operators has added a category for those that have completed the combined audit.
Mrs Pulham says that while ER membership has added value to Pulham’s, work remains to be done in the coach industry to ensure that such accreditation gains the attention that it warrants. “Earned Recognition has the potential to be a powerful tool for our industry,” she notes.
Suggestions recently aired by the Department for Transport concerning possible changes to heavy vehicle testing for ER members state that the scheme currently captures around 10% of the commercial vehicle parc via 115 operators. Around 18,000 PSVs are within ER and 25,000 HGVs.
