Bus firms hit out at council over payment

Conflict over schools contract and furlough scheme

School bus operators are battling to be paid for council contracts amid a dispute about firms’ use of the UK-wide staff furlough programme.

Owners and directors from 23 coach companies, including seven based in Airdrie and Coatbridge, have written to council chief executive Des Murray opposing its position that part-payments of 75 per cent will be offered for the three months since schools closed to pupils – but only if firms have not received financial support under the coronavirus job retention scheme.

Their letter says Nor th Lanarkshire’s stance is “unworkable and totally unjust” and based on a misinterpretation of national guidance on supplier payments – and the firms warn that, in the face of an “existential crisis” for the coach industry: “This decision will cause companies in the area to fail and fail quicker than elsewhere in the country”.

Golden Eagle Coaches, based in Salsburgh, normally runs nine school buses per day – including five to Caldervale High and one each to St Andrew’s High and St

Aloysius Primary in Chapelhall. Staff members are currently furloughed, during what would ordinarily be the industry’s busiest time of year.

Ishbel Lyall, who runs the 94-yearold family firm with her brothers Peter and Robert Irvine, says that not only did the council impose the furlough condition after operators had already taken that action – but that neighbouring South Lanarkshire, where her firm runs six school buses per day, is paying 75 per cent of the contract value without any such restriction.

She told the Advertiser: “Most councils are paying their operators between three quarters and 100 per cent.

“And while we had a dispute with South Lanarkshire at the start, they have now agreed to pay 75 instead of the 33 per cent they initially offered and have no stipulation about furlough.

“That scheme is there to retain the workforce and make sure that their jobs are there to come back to and we can pick up where we left off.

“We still have to pay for insurance, rates, utilities and hire purchase.

“All that’s still going out and the only thing we aren’t paying for just now is fuel.”

Firms signing the joint letter believe national guidance stating that contract payments cannot be combined with other Covid- 19 relief “which results in the supplier receiving more than one benefit for the same underlying cash-flow issue” has been misinterpreted because school runs do not represent their entire income.

Ishbel said: “The council seem to think that drivers are just there waiting to do school runs, but schools are under 50 per cent of our work.

“North Lanarkshire seem fixated with the idea that if they pay us, we are all going to make a massive profit.

“But school transport is only one of several revenue streams.”

She added: “May to July is when you normally make your money for the year.

“The diary would be chock-a-block with day trips, bowling and golf club outings, weddings, lots of school trips and pipe band season.

“Everything is cancelled and we have no work for the rest of this year, so it looks pretty bleak and it will be this time next year before our coaches can return to normality.”

The coach operators have so far received a 33 per cent interim payment for April, with remaining payment claims set to be considered individually. And as well as writing to the authority’s chief executive to set out their concerns, they have asked Strathclyde Partnership for Transport to support their campaign.

Ishbel added: “It’s just incredibly frustrating – we’re asking the council to clarify its position as they have given conflicting statements, and we have never had answers to the questions we’ve asked.

“We are asking them to pay us 75 per cent of the contract price and allow us to continue to furlough employees, which falls in line with most other local authorities in Scotland.”

A spokesperson for North Lanarkshire Council said: “We recognise that the health emergency could have a significant impact on businesses of all sizes and that there is a need to support providers of services so that they are better able to cope with the current crisis and to resume normal service delivery when the outbreak is over.

“We believe that we have taken a reasonable approach with the transport operators and have also provided them with information from our business support team which can offer advice on grants and loans.”