‘Disaster’ fears over transport services in Yorkshire

AN “UTTERLY absurd” situation linked to EU rules could spell disaster for bus services relied on by the elderly and children, leading councillors have claimed.

It is feared the Department for Transport (DfT) proposals, which could see not-for-profit community transport operations required to have a costly operator’s licence and their volunteers a commercial licence, may force many lifeline services off the road.

While the legislative changes would affect the whole of Great Britain, counties such as North Yorkshire and Durham with large rural areas are set to be hardest hit by the proposed move.

Upper Dales councillor John Blackie, who runs the Little White Bus services between Hawes, Barnard Castle, Teesside Park and Ripon for 65,000 passengers a year, said the proposals threatened to “wipe off the map nearly all the community transport in North Yorkshire”.

After attending a DfT consultation event on the proposals in Leeds yesterday, he said: “The losers in this world of over-regulation will be the passengers we provide services for.”

County councillor Don Mackenzie, North Yorkshire’s transport boss, said community transport operators could be exempted from the changes if they did not charge for fares or work for the council, but without that funding the services would not be viable.

He said: “Without the community operators many of our bus services would not exist because we cannot afford to run them and commercial operators would not be interested in them.”

Councillor Patrick Mulligan added the situation was “utterly absurd”.

A DfT spokesman defended the move, saying it had written to local authorities to explain that there was “no need for them to cancel contracts precipitately”.

He added: “We are exploring other ways to support the sector as well. We are making £250,000 available to fund advice for operators who need a PSV licence and are exploring what further assistance we can give.”