Every contract I’ve ever seen makes reference to local laws taking precedence over any other term in the contract. If you’re awarding a contract to a competent operator you should be able to safely assume that they will comply with the relevant legislation to deliver the contract.
Umm yes it is. The contractor is acting in a way contrary to an operators licence and therefore the contractor is liable if it comes to the traffic commissioner. It will be the operator Licensee that is liable for any punishment.
In their Ts and Cs (
https://www.flixbus.co.uk/terms-and-conditions-of-carriage), Flixbus rely on EU Regulation 181/2011 12.4.1 of their terms is pretty clear and replicates the EU regulation pretty much word for word.
'
12.4.1 Should the vehicle design or infrastructure, including bus stations and bus stops, physically prevent the boarding, exit or carriage of the disabled person or person with limited mobility in a safe and operationally feasible manner, FlixCompanies reserve the right to refuse to accept a reservation, to issue or to make available a ticket or to allow the person in question to board the vehicle. In this case, the person(s) involved shall be informed about all other acceptable alternative means of carriage using services offered by FlixCompanies. '
12.4.4 covers their response: '
12.4.4 In the event that the carriage of a passenger with a disability or limited mobility is checked and a ticket is issued, and if this passenger is subsequently refused carriage, both the passenger and the accompanying person have the following options: (a) to either request the reimbursement of the fare and the free return trip to the initial point of departure as specified on the contract of carriage at the earliest opportunity, as applicable, or (b) to continue the journey on an alternative route with an acceptable substitute transport service to the destination specified in the contract of carriage.'
12.5.3:
'12.5.3 In order to verify that transportation will be possible, the passenger is requested to provide the exact model of the wheelchair or other walking aids to customer service before booking, by telephone from 14 days and no later than 7 days (for transportation in the passenger cabin) or 36 hours (for transportation in the baggage compartment) before departure. '
So Flixbus will presumably argue that they're following the EU regulation - of course that doesn't take account of PSVAR!
EU regulation 181/2011 (
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2011:055:0001:0012:EN:PDF)
Article 10 carries a number of exemptions which are helpful to the industry:
' 1. Notwithstanding Article 9(1), carriers, travel agents and tour operators may refuse to accept a reservation from, to issue or otherwise provide a ticket to, or to take on board, a person on the grounds of disability or of reduced mobility:
and
(b) where the design of the vehicle or the infrastructure, including bus stops and terminals, makes it physically impossible to take on board, alight or carry the disabled person or person with reduced mobility in a safe and operationally feasible manner. '
It wouldn't be the first time there has been a conflict between an EU regulation and UK legislation, it does seem like Flixbus complies with EU provisions, that raises a few questions about PSVAR and how they deal with it. They appear to have coaches that comply with EU regulations, and operate as such, but don't comply with UK domestic legislation as they're not accessible.
I guess some legal people are going to have some work from this?! Far from being naive it does seem like some thought has been put into their UK operations, and perhaps they're content to have a legal fight over this? Given the high profile of the case and the fact it will go to court, some clarity will be forthcoming as to the approach flixbus needs to take. Probably easier for them to find a fleet of Levantes and run them, as Turners have done from day 1.