In article ,
says...
Sacha writes
On 27/3/08 10:38, in article ,
"Martin" wrote:

But this is applying also to small, local services, most or many of which
won't ever see a motorway. If I can drive e.g. Two hours to Chepstow and
back again in one day, as I shall do tomorrow, I really do not believe a bus
driver is at risk any more than I am.

Isn't that what the new regs are doing? Suggesting that a bus driver
should drive 2 hours to Chepstow, then have a break before driving 2 hrs
back again?

Snip

We're talking about small local
buses whose passengers have to get on and off in rain, wind, sleet and snow,
lugging shopping, babies and pushchairs each time.

If my bus driver is concentrating on driving along narrow country lanes
in rain, sleet and snow, I would prefer him/her not to keep going for 3
or 4 hours without a break.

Snip

The requirements for a long-distance coach driver going from Holland
to Scotland cannot possibly be the same as a bus driver going from Exeter to
Truro which is 87 miles and takes about two hours!

But they could be very similar to a bus driver going from Exeter to
Truro and back again, then having half an hour break for lunch and then
repeating the whole thing over again.


That has always been the case, the change is that if he does longer
journeys he/she has to work a five day week not six, which means
employing more drivers as the standard working week in the industry is 6
day, the rules also require a taco graph to be fitted to check driver
hours on the longer routes, it is a clear case of the bus companies being
bad employers and shifting the blame onto Europe in the hope that public
pressure will get the rules changed. We already enjoy an expensive
service that fails to meet demand in country areas despite public
subsidy, one would have at least hoped it was a safe one.
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea