West Lothian Council is to stop hiring out three minibuses to voluntary groups because drivers’ rules could see it liable for an accident claim.
Currently the buses are kept at community centres and can be hired for non-council use. This is scheduled to come to an end at the end of the month.
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In a report to the Environment Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel (PDSP) Fleet Operations manager Bruce Robb said: “The Council remains liable for the vehicles that it owns and by allowing the use of its buses by community organisations and drivers for non-Council use, it risks both legal action in the event of an accident and potential scrutiny of its Goods Vehicle Operators Licence and damage to the repute of those named on said licence.”
Council employees are subject to comprehensive checks and training to ensure compliance with legislation.
This includes: Yearly or Quarterly Driving Licence Checks; Driver Training including Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) and Minibus Driver Assessments (MiDAS); Driver Hours Compliance Monitoring; Operational Risk Assessment and Safe Working Procedures production and compliance.
There is no provision to ensure community organisations comply with these requirements which, in the event of an accident or serious incident, could leave the council liable to prosecution.
Mr Robb also pointed out that voluntary groups could get a better deal from commercial operators.
His report added: “Community groups can be supported by locally based hire vehicle providers, with potential to agree hire rates less than those charged internally by the Council.
"Armadale Commercials Ltd is one of many hire companies available for use and was identified as a local supplier operating in West Lothian , their inclusion in this report has been used to provide an example that cost effective support for community groups could be sourced locally, however, organisations would be responsible for identifying their own choice of supplier, agreement of pricing and any contract entered into would be between said organisation and their chosen hire supplier.”
However councillors Andrew McGuire and Diane Calder said their investigations showed that voluntary groups could face greater costs in approaching commercial companies outside a current umbrella scheme which gives them competitive rates through a national local authority agreement. Councillor Calder asked if this could be protected for any future commercial agreement.
Mr Robb pointed out that commercial operators could provide a greater range of vehicle sizes and thus costs, but it was agreed that the councillor’s suggestion could be explored.
Thirty organisations had made use of the council minibuses pre-pandemic in 2019-20. The buses have not been available for use since the lockdown measures were introduced.
The new rules do not affect the mini bus fleet operated by council staff, such as teachers for education programmes.
