By Safira Ali

Last updated 17:09, Wednesday, 23 July 2008

A Cumbrian coach company has been told to cut the number of vehicles it operates after its drivers were reported to be working more than the legal amount of hours.

Chris and Nicola Reay

Wigton-based Reays Coaches has a fleet of 40 coaches used for school contracts, national and international holidays.

Yesterday the company was told by the North West Traffic Commissioner Beverly Bell to employ a new transport manager after she questioned the reputation of company director Christopher Reay as current transport manager.

One driver was banned from driving for a week because he was reported to have driven 20 hours in a day with only three hours rest in 2006.

A further nine drivers were given verbal warnings about driving over the legal amount of hours allowed and not recording journeys and time correctly.

Yesterday the directors of the company, Christopher and Nicola Reay, were summoned before the Traffic Commissioner, Beverley Bell, after VOSA inspectors reported that drivers were working over the legal limit of 10 hours and not submitting the relevant data to show how many hours they had been working in 2006.

Mr Reay told the court that he has since reduced the coaches to 22 because the school term has finished. But he plans to increase the fleet to 35 when school starts again.

The company, which also operated heavy goods licenses at the time of the inspection, also had these licences revoked on July 3.

Mrs Bell said: “When Mr Healy inspected in July 2006 he requested that the charts be produced.”

Not all the charts recording journeys and times were produced and he found drivers were exceeding the maximum working hours of 10 hours per two days.

She added: “When a passenger gets on a vehicle they give no thought to the safety of the vehicle. That’s there to ensure that the operators are fulfilling their obligations. What Mr Healy found was there were some breaches of the rules. The request for information was not given the urgency it required. They were failing to complete the charts.

“In summary the drivers were not recording all their journeys.”

She said there were 21 instances where drivers failed to comply with the daily rest. Nine instances where they did not comply with the weekly requirement, and six instances where they exceeded the daily driving period. She said the company was paying lip service to the rules.”

She added: “They have already started to put matters on a proper footing so I can build a relationship with them. But the actions taken by the operator were too little too late.

“The running of commercial passenger vehicles is an onerous responsibility. I have had concerns about Mr Reay and including his business, homelife and other responsibilities.

“In this case I am satisfied about the breach of undertaking vehicle maintenance and the drivers hours. It’s very serious. I am satisfied that it’s appropriate finding against the repute of Christopher Reay. I will use my powers to curtail your activity and do what you’re supposed to as an operator.”

She has cut down the fleet from 40 to 25 vehicles for a three-month period. They will be able to increase it to 30 after three months. If after six months they want to increase it to 40 they will have to meet with Mrs Bell.

She added that they must find a new transport manager.

A further nine drivers were given verbal warnings about working over the amount of hours they are legally allowed to and about recording the hours they work.

Another driver, Andrew Goodman, of Richmond Green, Carlisle, had been on a PGL School groups tour of south France in 2006. He went into overtime when a tyre blew on May 20.

On June 12 he failed to record his hours and failed to get his daily rest. The court heard that he had stopped off at Maidstone and driven a company vehicle back to Cumbria.

He was on duty for 20 hours and had taken only three hours rest.

A spokesman for Reays Coaches said: “Reays Coaches have co-operated fully with the Traffic Commissioner’s inquiry throughout.

“The period in question began in 2006 when the company used to operate HGVs, which is no longer the case, and when it was going through a difficult period caused by external circumstances.

“However, it is now concentrating on its core business of luxury coaches and wedding limousines.

“Reays Coaches fully accept the findings of the inquiry and have already brought in a whole range of new and sophisticated training procedures and systems for drivers, staff and vehicles to avoid any repetition of these offences.

“Reays Coaches would also like to point out that no accidents or road safety incidents were caused as a result of these issues.

“Chris and Nicola Reay both fully understand issues raised by the Traffic Commissioner and are committed to running a safe operation.”