Bus firm’s praise as drivers top covid death toll

McGill’s thank ‘brave’staff as grim figures revealed

A bus company has thanked its staff for their selflessness after research confirmed devastatingly high numbers of covid deaths among drivers.

Bosses at McGill’s Buses - which implemented a host of measures to keep its buses safe in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic last March - say their thoughts are with their peers who have lost their lives to the virus.

It comes as new figures, published by the National Records of Scotland (NRS), reveal the occupation of 679 Scots who died of the virus and were of working age over a 13-month period.

All 679 were aged between 20 and 64 and died of Covid-19 between March 1, 2020 and March 31 this year.

It found the highest proportion of fatalities occurred in bus and taxi drivers, food and drink processing operatives and those in maintenance and repair roles.

Grouped together in the process, plant and machine operatives category, a total of 129 people in these lines of work have died.

A spokesman for McGill’s Buses, which runs many services in Renfrewshire, said: “Over the last year, our driving staff have bravely put themselves on the frontline, to ensure there was a reliable bus service for those who needed it.

“We adopted a range of new procedures to keep our staff safe, including installing covid screens on our full fleet, asking customers to pay with card or the exact fare, full cab cleaning at every changeover and blocking off the seats at the front of our vehicles.

“Ou r staff covid consultation g roup continues to meet regularly, which has been an effective way to discuss any concerns and implement new procedures accordingly, to ensure that all staff feel safe at their work.”

A total of 159 people have died in the three health and social care categories recorded by the NRS.

Of those, 71 were working in ‘caring personal service occupations’, 60 in social care and 28 in health care.

Meanwhile, 106 deaths have occurred among people employed in ‘elementary occupations’ - which includes people who work in construction, hospitality, supermarkets, cleaning roles and security jobs - and 100 deaths have occurred involving people working in skilled t rades occupat i o n s such as carpent e r s, plumbers, joiners and electricians.

The deaths by occupation were published this week when the number of covid deaths in Scotland surpassed 10,000.

As of April 11, a total of 10,031 deaths were registered in Scotland where coronavirus was mentioned on the death certificate.

Of those, 521 took place in Renfrewshire.