The DVLA has said there have been “no delays” in processing bus drivers despite Stagecoach’s claims of a backlog.
But the bus operator has hit back saying the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency’s (DVLA) response “simply does not match” their experience.
The dispute between the organisations comes while Stagecoach East Scotland is under pressure due to driver shortages, which has been an ongoing issue for several months.
All of its services have been affected, including its flagship X7 coastal service.
In October, Conservative North East MSP Tess White wrote to the bus firm urging them to seek help from the council and Scottish Government to fill the staff voids.
In a reply to the MSP, Douglas Robertson, managing director for Stagecoach East of Scotland, said the company was struggling for drivers for a number of reasons.
One of the reasons he gave was the delay in bus drivers receiving their provisional licenses from the DVLA.
In October he said he was waiting on 14 of them to be issued.
DVLA: ‘There have been no delays’
Now a DVLA spokesman has said there are “no delays for straightforward bus driving licence applications”.
He said they are all being processed within “three days of receipt”.
Bus drivers require a special qualification to drive a heavy goods vehicle (HGV), which requires more checks than a normal licence.
However, the spokesman did concede applications with a medical condition can take longer as they often have to wait on doctors to respond.
The DVLA has also said they are prioritising professional bus driver licences and they offer a service where companies can chase applications.
Stagecoach: ‘Applications take vastly different amounts of time’
However, a spokeswoman for Stagecoach East Scotland has rejected the DVLA’s version of events.
She said: “The response from the DVLA simply does not match our experience, or those of other operators in Scotland.”
Stagecoach says applications made on the same day can have vastly different processing times, and say no communication is given to explain why.
They say all operators across Scotland have raised this with the Confederation of Passenger Transport in recent months.
Stagecoach believes it is “critical” there are no blockages while they make “huge efforts” to address the driver shortage.
Driver shortage rumbles on
Included within Mr Robertson’s letter to MSP Tess White was the admission that Stagecoach is currently short 25 drivers.
In October, its Arbroath depot, responsible for operating the X7 service, was lacking 17% of its total workforce.
A number of X7 buses were pictured sitting in Arbroath while services were cancelled due to a lack of drivers.
The X7 route connects Dundee and Aberdeen, travelling up the A92 coast road through Arbroath, Montrose, St Cyrus, Inverbervie and Stonehaven.
How has the driver shortage been affecting people?
The X7 has been under extreme pressure since the new timetable was implemented at the start of October.
Passengers have shared their stories.
- Carol Hutton is unable to see her war veteran partner who lives in Edinburgh due to his PTSD meaning he could not risk becoming stranded.
- Michelle Fletcher was getting up at 4am every day to share the Twitter cancellations to those without access to it.
- Bob Anderson lost around £400 of his wages in October due to missing work as a carer.
- Kenny MacLeod’s 17-year-old daughter had to miss two weeks of college and an assessment.
- Catherine Ball had to pay £50 for taxis for her 18-year-old to get to her minimum wage work.
What do the passengers think of the dispute?
The impacted passengers have been continuing to make their voices heard during the cancellations.
Catherine Ball said: “Stagecoach must stop putting blame on the DVLA. It’s untrue and proven to be unfounded. Customers deserve better.
“Giving the information from the DVLA, it’s apparently been going on for months.
“Passengers feel they have nowhere to go for help and that we have no choice but continue to frustratingly accept it.”
Carol Hutton has also hit out at the company.
She said: “It’s easy for Stagecoach to blame everyone else but themselves for their failure to recruit and retain trained drivers over the past three years.
“But that said, I bet the DVLA is playing a numbers game where the three-day quoting starts when the application is transferred to a certain process, not once it is actually sent.
“And Stagecoach knows this full well, so why are they expecting the DVLA to suddenly change?
“It is Stagecoach’s responsibility to use agency driver hire, better pay and conditions to resolve the shortage.”