A REDDITCH woman has said she could fail her apprenticeship because Diamond Buses can’t her get to work on time.
Addressing the Redditch Highways and Transportation Forum on Tuesday, Lodge Park resident Charlotte Evans listed a torrent of complaints ranging from buses breaking down (once twice on the same journey), not turning up on time, poor driver attitude, and having to catch elderly passengers sent flying because the bus had set off before they could sit down.
“No matter how early I get to the bus stop, the bus is always late and I worry I could lose the chance of a job because I can’t get to work on time,” said the 22-year-old.
“The drivers seem to have a very bad attitude, particularly towards the elderly and I’ve had to literally catch an old person because the driver moved off so quickly,” said Charlotte, who, due to speak at 5pm at the meeting, had arrived late – because her bus didn’t turn up on time.
She also spoke of drivers going so fast that “you can physically feel the bus lifting, and the drivers say they can’t slow down because they have a schedule to keep.”
Earlier in the meeting, attended by Diamond’s Operations Director Chris Blyth, county councillors had voiced their own concerns about the company.
Regular bus user Councillor Andy Fry (Lab, Arrow Valley West) spoke of drivers working 14 hours at a stretch, of poor driver moral and low wages: “I have seen no improvement at all. There are buses breaking down all the time; sometimes the bus is there, more often than not it’s not.”
He also accused the company of carrying out ‘sticking plaster repairs’ – a point vehemently denied by Mr Blyth – before adding: “For a bus service it’s the poorest I have ever known.”
Councillor Joe Baker (Lab, Arrow Valley East) told Mr Blyth: “For the last three months I have listened to non-stop complaints about the dire service Diamond Buses is offering. You have lost of the confidence of the public – it will be difficult to pull yourself back from that.”
However Mr Blyth said that Diamond was acting on the complaints, had employed two extra customer relations staff and additional engineers to service the buses.
He also said that the introduction of eight new buses for the town had been delayed to carry out modifications so they could accommodate five spaces for pushchairs instead of just one, specifically for Redditch.
“It’s fair to say we have had some challenges to deal with but I think we are a good way down the road to resolving these,” he said.
