Pembrokeshire’s bus company purchase deemed ‘seamless’ despite driver shortages

By Bruce Sinclair

The recent council purchase of a Pembrokeshire bus company has been “seamless,” despite some driver shortages, members of a council committee will hear next week.

Back in December Pembrokeshire County Council completed the purchase of the assets of Edwards Bros Coaches of Tiers Cross, operating all contracts previously run by the company.

The council stepped in when it became clear that the operator was planning to withdraw from the bus market, with the purchase previously backed by the council’s Cabinet last January.

The March 21 meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee will hear an update report following the purchase.

The report for members states: “There was a seamless takeover, with all the statutory duties of school transport maintained as well as the continued provision of public transport bus services and additional work as and when required.

“The council has only been operating the assets now for a few months and it is therefore too early to provide substantive feedback on performance.

“It is envisaged that, based on the current workload, financial targets will be met.”

However, several issues have been highlighted in the report.

It says that, while all of the Edwards Bros drivers were transferred to the council, there is a shortage of drivers, which has been worsened due to sickness absence and existing private hire bookings.

“Moving forward, private hire work will only be taken on if it can be scheduled around the capacity and logistics of the school transport routes and local bus services. The bus driver shortage is a national problem and one being experienced by every operator in Pembrokeshire,” the report adds.

Members will hear a council minibus driver has now become a coach driver and another member of staff will also shortly be undertaking their training and test, and a recruitment campaign is currently being undertaken to recruit additional drivers.

The report concludes: “A substantial piece of work was undertaken in terms of due diligence to acquire the assets of the bus company.

“Those assets have only been operated by the council only for a few weeks, so whilst some points have been identified in the update, it is proposed a more substantive piece of feedback on performance is provided in the autumn, which will give time for clearer feedback.”

Members will be asked to consider the feedback on the acquisition, and to refer any relevant concerns to Cabinet.