A former coach driver who retired early over sleep deprivation has reignited concerns about drivers sharing rooms on tours, calling for it to end.
Keith Murley tells routeone he considers himself “extremely lucky” to be alive, stating that exhaustion nearly cost him his life — and saw him retire due to mental ill health from the pressure of being forced to drive while fatigued.
Mr Murley describes a system in which legal rest periods exist on paper but are undermined when drivers are required to share rooms. According to Mr Murley, the practice remains “surprisingly common” on long-haul European school trips where tour operators book the accommodation.
He says a former employer was contracted to a tour operator. “Last year, when looking into which operators it used, its website was asking for interested coach companies to get in touch. The contract was quite informative. One of the conditions was that drivers would be required to share.
“Because we took over the feeder coach anywhere from Thurrock services to the Maidstone area for the night sailing, any time from 2200hrs the mandatory break was also in a shared room,” he adds.
“Some drivers I worked with had no interest in resting, which made life quite difficult. I am still very surprised that there are not more accidents in France when coming back from the ski resorts. It is time the practice of expecting the drivers to share is stopped.”
Longstanding issue
Mr Murley’s account echoes concerns raised a decade ago by Belt Up School Kids (BUSK), whose Nightcap campaign — launched in 2014 — first exposed the widespread use of shared, substandard, and sometimes unsafe driver accommodation on school and youth group trips.
BUSK Director Pat Harris says she was initially sceptical when the first complaints came in. But when launched, the campaign went viral.
“In the first week we had somewhere in the region of 2,000 coach drivers contact us… that rose to somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 drivers,” she says. “Most of them we could tell were genuine.”
Drivers sent photographs not only of cramped or shared rooms, but in some extreme cases of tents, mattresses on floors, and in one case, a brothel mis-sold as a hotel. BUSK reported the latter to local authorities, triggering a multi-agency inspection and closure.
The issue, Ms Harris argues, goes beyond comfort for drivers, and is one of safety and duty of care. She says the coach operator and tour company share responsibility.
“BUSK is uncompromising when it comes to safety,” she adds. “On long-haul trips, driver accommodation isn’t a luxury. It’s a lifeline. A tired driver is a dangerous driver, and cutting corners puts every passenger at risk. Those booking accommodation carry a legal duty of care. Ignore it, and you gamble with lives.
“Every tour company that has booked accommodation has a legal requirement to provide accommodation that is suitable and safe for the drivers. If drivers report to that company they cannot sleep, if the person they are put in a room with snores, or something otherwise happens to keep that driver awake, it is up to that tour company to make sure they change that accommodation.”
While there is no specific legislation mandating single rooms, lawyers advising BUSK argue that failing to provide accommodation that allows for proper rest constitutes a breach of duty of care under wider health and safety requirements. Ms Harris says every driver should be given a room of their own as far away as possible from the party they are carrying, and away from lift shafts, kitchens, and entertainment areas.
Pushing back
In response to poor rest facilities, Ms Harris says some operators have opted out of European work altogether. She recalls a conversation with one firm that does not undertake tours abroad anymore because tour companies “are not prepared to look after drivers” the way it wants.
Some tour companies, she notes, do provide single rooms as standard. They include European Heritage and school trip organiser Schools into Europe.
BUSK adds that legal responsibility falls to education leaders, noting Monmouthshire County Council as a good example. It requires its schools to secure written confirmation of driver accommodation before booking trips.
Standards needed
With evidence that shared rooms remain, BUSK is updating its Nightcap resources and exploring a “BUSK Approved” register of tour companies guaranteeing single rooms.
Operators are encouraged to get confirmation in writing that tour organisers will provide single accommodation for drivers. Ms Harris also believes insurance companies could be a lever for change.
Tour companies and coach operators that guarantee single rooms for drivers that meet BUSK criteria are encouraged to contact the organisation to have their name added to the register.
