I am employed by a local charity, which relies heavily on volunteer drivers – many of whom only have a normal car licence. We have a number of minibuses ranging from 13 to 17 seats.
Castle Minibus, in launching this campaign [routeone, news, 13 September], makes no mention of the detriment it will cause to our service users and those at other voluntary groups and charities, or indeed the financial impact on us that trying to enforce a change to the legislation will have.
The driving licence legislation that the Government introduced in 1999 was done so with the very intention of helping charities such as ours. The driving licence exemptions are also there to help schools where pupils may need trips to sporting fixtures or field trips to further their education.
Having read Castle Minibuses’ website, I see that it supplies minibuses which, with the exception of the 9-seat bus, appears not to be appropriate to drive on a Category B licence and D1 training.
Perhaps they have a vested commercial interest.
I might finally add that all of our volunteer drivers undertake MIDAS training. I believe this form of training was designed and set up specifically for volunteer drivers at charities and schools in mind.
Patrick Goodwin, Sunderland
