Dai Corner
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Facebook post by someone who I trust and I think attended the Inquiry. He's promised a full write-up tomorrow. I'll ask if he's happy for me to copy it here.
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Newport Transport to face Public Inquiry
- Thread starter Dai Corner
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Facebook post by someone who I trust and I think attended the Inquiry. He's promised a full write-up tomorrow. I'll ask if he's happy for me to copy it here.
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R
RailUK Forums
Thanks - I just wondered if there was an "official" source yet.
Indeed! At least he's (slightly) more capable than his former counterpart at Cardiff Bus.
anthony263
Established Member
Probably the next notices and proceedings when its published
Great_Western
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Is there anything in particular that makes Scott Pearson so bad?
M803UYA
Member
A copy of the decision may appear on gov.uk, some traffic areas are good at uploading decisions. As a 'first visit' a formal warning was the most likely outcome. If they go up before the TC again it won't be so light. Fines for non compliance and a disc reduction awaits. They'll have to improve as they'll be on the radar now.
"The Inquiry was conducted by Anthony Secular, the Deputy Traffic Commissioner for Wales. The new Traffic Commissioner, Victoria Davies, sat at the back as an observer.
Newport Transport were represented by Jonathon Backhouse, whose company regularly represents transport operators at Public Inquiries.
https://www.backhousejones.co.uk/about-us/the-team/
Attending from Newport Transport were Scott Pearson (Managing Director), Morgan Stevens (Operations Director), David Jenkins (Finance Director) and Lee Ahern (Head of Engineering). Helen Burgess (another employee) was present, ready to be nominated as the new Transport Manager if Scott Pearson was disqualified.
The Inquiry opened with the Deputy TC running through details of issues brought to his attention.
He had a bus monitoring report, which suggested that services were not being operated as per the timetable. A Bus Monitoring Account Manager from the DVSA had carried out observations in November 2019 over a period of 7 days, at Friars Walk and various locations in Caerleon.
It totalled 55 observations. 53 services were seen and 2 failed to operate, a non-compliance rate of 5%. 12 journeys departed late or early, a 23% non-compliance rate. The overall non-compliance was 34%.
Morgan Stevens, in response to questions from the solicitor, said he had submitted a detailed response to the Traffic Commissioner. He disputed the findings and suggested the observer was not familiar with some locations in Newport. They may have been observing from the wrong location, as bus stops tend to be named after the side road ahead of them, rather than the one behind. Hence, some of the early departures were actually no more than 1 minute early, which is within the Traffic Commissioner’s permissible window of “no more than 1 minute early or 5 minutes late”. They had GPS readings from GreenRoad (a driver monitoring system) which showed the buses were not at the observer’s location at the claimed time.
Morgan Stevens also said that drivers are sometimes under pressure not to waiting at timing points too long, as they obstruct the traffic in certain places. The company is currently undertaking an exercise to review all timing points and move them to locations where buses can pull off the road and wait time (if required).
Services 27/28 suffer from “pinch points” along the route, where delays can occur. They can also be affected if traffic is diverted off the M4.
Service 29B will serve the new Grange Hospital when it opens later this year, so its timetable will undergo a complete review at that stage.
In response to a question from the T.C., he said the current Peak Vehicle Requirement for the fleet is 56 buses.
The hearing then considered the maintenance problems. DVSA Vehicle Examiners had carried out an unannounced inspection of buses in February 2020 and a number were issued with prohibition notices. Defects included a worn steering arm and fault lights on the dashboard e.g. Anti-lock Braking System (ABS). They had also found fuel leaks and bodywork issues.
Lee Ahern, in response to questions from the solicitor, said he had been appointed in January 2019. He had previously worked for First Group and was aware there were problems in the department. He had provided responses to the DVSA check on 19th March.
He accepted that the steering arm was in poor condition and that the bus had passed an (internal) safety inspection the day before. The engineer who had conducted that examination and passed the bus fit for service had been dismissed.
A proportion of the fleet are older buses, which require more maintenance than normal. 14 new buses are due by the end of the week, which will reduce the workload significantly.
The company has 8.5 full time engineers. Some of them are agency staff. Reduced service levels due to COVID-19 had resulted in drivers being furloughed, but they had kept all their engineers on to get ahead on maintenance.
One of the prohibitions was for an Emissions Fault light staying on. They were having difficulty resetting these lights on some buses; when it was given an emissions test, the bus passed it.
They are working towards a zero tolerance policy on faults. Two drivers who had failed to carry out an effective pre-service walk-round check had been dismissed.
The Traffic Commissioner adjourned the hearing for around 30 minutes so that he could consider the verbal evidence (he had already read a pile of documents over a foot high!) and come to a decision.
After resuming at 15:55, the T.C. said that failure to operate the timetable has a considerable impact on the travelling public. He was surprised by the alleged number of early departures being greater than the late departures (it’s normally the other way around) and noted the challenges made by the operator. He had therefore decided to issue a Formal Warning on performance rather than impose a financial penalty.
He noted that the operator had recognised there were problems with maintenance and were taking measures to address it. He noted that new buses would be arriving shortly. On the basis of assurances given to him by the company, he dealt with the matter by issuing a Formal Warning. He also directed that the results of a full independent audit of Engineering and Quality Systems should be provided to his office by the end of December 2020.
He decided to take no action against the Transport Manager. (I previously reported he had, but that was due to mis-reading the notes I hastly scribbled down trying to keep up with the TC's decisions. My apologies for that error)"
Source - Paul Harley on the Newport Transport enthusiasts facebook page.
Newport Transport were represented by Jonathon Backhouse, whose company regularly represents transport operators at Public Inquiries.
https://www.backhousejones.co.uk/about-us/the-team/
Attending from Newport Transport were Scott Pearson (Managing Director), Morgan Stevens (Operations Director), David Jenkins (Finance Director) and Lee Ahern (Head of Engineering). Helen Burgess (another employee) was present, ready to be nominated as the new Transport Manager if Scott Pearson was disqualified.
The Inquiry opened with the Deputy TC running through details of issues brought to his attention.
He had a bus monitoring report, which suggested that services were not being operated as per the timetable. A Bus Monitoring Account Manager from the DVSA had carried out observations in November 2019 over a period of 7 days, at Friars Walk and various locations in Caerleon.
It totalled 55 observations. 53 services were seen and 2 failed to operate, a non-compliance rate of 5%. 12 journeys departed late or early, a 23% non-compliance rate. The overall non-compliance was 34%.
Morgan Stevens, in response to questions from the solicitor, said he had submitted a detailed response to the Traffic Commissioner. He disputed the findings and suggested the observer was not familiar with some locations in Newport. They may have been observing from the wrong location, as bus stops tend to be named after the side road ahead of them, rather than the one behind. Hence, some of the early departures were actually no more than 1 minute early, which is within the Traffic Commissioner’s permissible window of “no more than 1 minute early or 5 minutes late”. They had GPS readings from GreenRoad (a driver monitoring system) which showed the buses were not at the observer’s location at the claimed time.
Morgan Stevens also said that drivers are sometimes under pressure not to waiting at timing points too long, as they obstruct the traffic in certain places. The company is currently undertaking an exercise to review all timing points and move them to locations where buses can pull off the road and wait time (if required).
Services 27/28 suffer from “pinch points” along the route, where delays can occur. They can also be affected if traffic is diverted off the M4.
Service 29B will serve the new Grange Hospital when it opens later this year, so its timetable will undergo a complete review at that stage.
In response to a question from the T.C., he said the current Peak Vehicle Requirement for the fleet is 56 buses.
The hearing then considered the maintenance problems. DVSA Vehicle Examiners had carried out an unannounced inspection of buses in February 2020 and a number were issued with prohibition notices. Defects included a worn steering arm and fault lights on the dashboard e.g. Anti-lock Braking System (ABS). They had also found fuel leaks and bodywork issues.
Lee Ahern, in response to questions from the solicitor, said he had been appointed in January 2019. He had previously worked for First Group and was aware there were problems in the department. He had provided responses to the DVSA check on 19th March.
He accepted that the steering arm was in poor condition and that the bus had passed an (internal) safety inspection the day before. The engineer who had conducted that examination and passed the bus fit for service had been dismissed.
A proportion of the fleet are older buses, which require more maintenance than normal. 14 new buses are due by the end of the week, which will reduce the workload significantly.
The company has 8.5 full time engineers. Some of them are agency staff. Reduced service levels due to COVID-19 had resulted in drivers being furloughed, but they had kept all their engineers on to get ahead on maintenance.
One of the prohibitions was for an Emissions Fault light staying on. They were having difficulty resetting these lights on some buses; when it was given an emissions test, the bus passed it.
They are working towards a zero tolerance policy on faults. Two drivers who had failed to carry out an effective pre-service walk-round check had been dismissed.
The Traffic Commissioner adjourned the hearing for around 30 minutes so that he could consider the verbal evidence (he had already read a pile of documents over a foot high!) and come to a decision.
After resuming at 15:55, the T.C. said that failure to operate the timetable has a considerable impact on the travelling public. He was surprised by the alleged number of early departures being greater than the late departures (it’s normally the other way around) and noted the challenges made by the operator. He had therefore decided to issue a Formal Warning on performance rather than impose a financial penalty.
He noted that the operator had recognised there were problems with maintenance and were taking measures to address it. He noted that new buses would be arriving shortly. On the basis of assurances given to him by the company, he dealt with the matter by issuing a Formal Warning. He also directed that the results of a full independent audit of Engineering and Quality Systems should be provided to his office by the end of December 2020.
He decided to take no action against the Transport Manager. (I previously reported he had, but that was due to mis-reading the notes I hastly scribbled down trying to keep up with the TC's decisions. My apologies for that error)"
Source - Paul Harley on the Newport Transport enthusiasts facebook page.
Last edited:
Dai Corner
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I now understand only the Company was given a formal warning, not the Transport Manager. Apologies for the previous error.
Dai Corner
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It would be interesting to know whether they were permanent employees who were sacked after a formal disciplinary process or agency staff who were used as scapegoats and didn't have their contracts renewed.
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
Erm, before the mods get involved, let's get some levity here rather than speculation and supposition.
A fitter has inspected a steering arm and signed it off as serviceable when it's clearly not. No one should do that, irrespective of "pressure". If there's a systemic failure e.g. if said fitter wasn't appropriately qualified or trained, then that's a different matter but we just don't know the facts. It could be a failure by an individual. I know a fitter who was dismissed for failing to put oil in a gearbox that he'd fitted to a Leyland National.
That's not to say that "strategic dismissals" don't take place as scapegoating, or that there aren't some significant issues with that operation. Newport Bus is a deeply unimpressive operation that has had chronic under-investment for several years, and a low commitment to customer service.
A fitter has inspected a steering arm and signed it off as serviceable when it's clearly not. No one should do that, irrespective of "pressure". If there's a systemic failure e.g. if said fitter wasn't appropriately qualified or trained, then that's a different matter but we just don't know the facts. It could be a failure by an individual. I know a fitter who was dismissed for failing to put oil in a gearbox that he'd fitted to a Leyland National.
That's not to say that "strategic dismissals" don't take place as scapegoating, or that there aren't some significant issues with that operation. Newport Bus is a deeply unimpressive operation that has had chronic under-investment for several years, and a low commitment to customer service.
philthetube
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The amount of time the fitter had to complete his duties is also relevant.
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
You are quite right.... What the word I was grasping for was, I don't know, but it weren't that! In fact, it was the antithesis of that! 
Unless anyone who was directly involved comes forward to offer the truth, I don't think we'll ever know for sure. While on the surface it looks like an engineer and driver were hung out to dry, we don't know their previous records. We don't know what pressure was put on them from above to sign off the work as done, even though it might not have been to standard. It could be that those individuals weren't given enough time to complete and inspect their work and were pressured to get vehicles out on the road. I wouldn't want to be the one laying the blame at anyone's feet.
Either way, it seems that the company has managed to escape with with a slap on the wrists, and one can only hope that they will learn from this and move on.
Either way, it seems that the company has managed to escape with with a slap on the wrists, and one can only hope that they will learn from this and move on.
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