One of Scotland’s biggest bus firms is being probed after a whistleblower claimed drivers were being forced to operate faulty vehicles.
Allegations of Stagecoach operating buses from its Inverness depot with red or amber brake, engine, and emission warning lights coming on, have surfaced.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) said an intelligence officer was investigating the claims at Stagecoach North Scotland, which carries 16million passengers a year.
A worker at the firm said: “I have found faults with vehicles, such as amber engine management lights, amber emissions lights, amber anti-lock braking system lights and others which, when presented to a fitter, are signed off without them even looking at the affected bus.
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“If a driver refuses to take a bus out, they may feel intimidated by managers. If drivers feel threatened, they back down and take it out. The other day, a driver found a defect. He took the card into the office and it was torn up and the controller said, ‘No more defect’.”
Stagecoach said as a result of its probe into the claims, it had “identified areas where we’ll be strengthening management and putting additional checks in place”.
But it added: “a number of the claims are not supported by our findings. Others appear to have resulted from a misunderstanding.”
