Charity hits out at campaign for unrestricted licences to be adopted for minibuses with more than eight seats; Greater than 8 responds that some MiDAS training ‘involves no driving’ at all and is little use
A Sunderland-based charity has criticised the Greater than 8 campaign, which is lobbying for drivers of all minibuses with more than eight seats to be required to hold unrestricted category D1 licences.
Patrick Goodwin, employed by the charity, says that if the campaign is successful, it will “cause detriment to our service users and those at other voluntary groups and charities.” He adds that the financial impact of requiring unrestricted licences will also hurt many such bodies.
“Driving licence legislation introduced in 1999 was done so with the intention of helping charities such as ours. All of our volunteers undertake MiDAS training. I believe that form of training was set up specifically for volunteer drivers at charities and schools.”
Chris Maynard, MD of Castle Minibus and founder of the Greater than 8 campaign, has responded to the comments.
“I appreciate that there is a funding issue. Because of the exceptions, loopholes and resulting confusion in minibus driving licences, the need to prioritise funding [for unrestricted licences] is being negated, and we want to end to that.”
He adds that the exemption is being exploited by some organisations, and that if unrestricted entitlement becomes a legal requirement, “we can then campaign for funding.”
MiDAS training, Chris adds, is something that can be of use even to holders of unrestricted D1 licences. “Not all MiDAS courses are offered by driver training professionals, and some don’t include any actual driving. So if you have never driven a minibus before attending MiDAS training, there is no guarantee that you will have done afterwards.”
He also voices concern that some organisations are relying on local authorities’ advice, which takes a lead from the government’s guidance and not legal professionals and offers alternative training that may be inadequate.
“That is another issue that we may tackle in the future.”
