IN THE wake of the town’s Diamond Bus fiasco, Labour Party councillors across Redditch and Bromsgrove are calling for cross party agreement on a Group Motion which may lead to the bus provider losing its licence.
Coun Robin Lunn (Redditch North) is set to raise the motion, seconded by Graham Vickery (Redditch North), at Thursday’s (January 14) meeting of Worcestershire County Council.
The request calls on Coun John Smith, (Cons, Cabinet Member with Responsiblity for Highways) to meet with Diamond Buses and make it clear if there is no immediate improvement then he will seek to have their licence revoked.
Following concerns regarding the quality and standard of Diamond bus services in the county, the motion calls for Coun Smith to consider opening discussions with the Transport Commissioners to achieve real improvements in the reliability, quality and customer satisfaction.
The motion ends stating a revocation of the licence should be considered if necessary.
Worcestershire County Council Labour leader Peter McDonald (Rubery, North Ward), said the Diamond’s bus service is so poor the time had come to give Diamond a final warning.
“They cannot go on using old buses that really are not fit for purpose and leave people stranded,” he said. “If they cannot supply a decent service then let another company in to do so.
“Bus passengers throughout the county tell stories of buses setting alight, drivers not knowing where to go and buses just not turning up.
“Something must be done as a great number of people rely on buses as part of their daily lives.”
He hoped Diamond bosses would respond positively but if not, their licence should be revoked.
The company has been plagued with complaints since September and, following an apology from now ex-Rotala director David Squire and Redditch operations manager Andrew Fish, Redditch was promised eight additional buses would be operating from December 1, with more coming in 2016.
But, following a discussion with business development manager, Paul McNamara, The Standard has since learned no vehicles were due to arrive in the town until January.
The two vehicles scheduled for December were actually earmarked for another depot but Mr McNamara added one bus would be arriving in Redditch this month and the remaining seven in February.
In other Diamond news, deputy mayor Coun Joe Baker (Lab, Arrow Valley East) recently fell victim to a threatening phone call, supposedly from a company representative.
“It was an anonymous call and the caller would not say who they were, just that it was about Diamond Buses and they were a representative.
“I was told to back off as they were not happy with my campaigning against the company as it was causing hassle and disruption and bad feeling among the drivers.”
Coun Baker said he was not intimidated and the call only made him more determined in his efforts.
The deputy mayor is also set to start a petition on Monday (January 11) calling for Coun Smith to close Diamond’s contract and open a tender to other bus providers.
A spokesperson for Diamond Buses said they could not believe that anyone from the company would make such a call.
“We are not aware of any such phone call and who within the company may have made such a call.
“The suggested tone telling Mr Baker to ‘back off’ is certainly not something we would condone.
“If Mr Baker would kindly like to get in touch with us with further information we would be very keen to investigate this further.”
