Two school bus firms offer refund or credits
MOVE FOLLOWS DECISION BY ONE OPERATOR NOT TO REPAY PARENTS
TWO school bus firms have said they will offer credit or refunds to parents who have pre-paid fares.
Confidence and Roberts said they will be offering parents credit for next year or refunds for pupils who finish their education this term.
The Mercury contacted the companies after another firm – Beaver Bus – told parents it would not be refunding them, despite services not running.
Confidence runs routes to and from schools in Leicester, Countesthorpe, Oadby and Market Bosworth.
Roberts’ routes serve some schools in Loughborough, Ashby, Coalville, Market Bosworth and Markfield.
Parents of pupils at some of the schools both firms serve had raised concerns, saying they were struggling to contact the companies and were worried about whether they would be able to get their money back or credit for next year.
One said: “Some parents pay daily, weekly or termly.
“They haven’t had to pay for buses throughout this but those of us who pre-paid have been.
“It’s not fair and I just hope they are going to do something.”
A statement on Confidence’s Facebook page said: “Our offices are still closed and nobody is currently at work.
“We just wanted to update and reassure everybody that once we reopen for business we will be reimbursing everyone for all school passes that have been paid for or putting it towards a reduction off next term’s/year’s passes.
“We hope you are all safe and well and we look forward to hopefully seeing you all in the not so distant future.”
Both companies asked people to be patient due to workload and limited staff.
Mike Lambert, operations director at Roberts Coaches, said: “The problem we have had is that until a week or 10 days ago we didn’t know what year groups would be going back and when.
“We are a commercial operation and last week had to make the difficult decision to not run services this week.
“We were looking at three passengers on an 86-seater bus and that’s not commercially viable.
“We’ve been operating with some staff on furlough and in uncertain times.
“Now we know the services are not running, we will be working through and offering credits to those who will be back in school next year and refunds to those who finish this year.
“We have 2,000 bus passes, there is a lot of work to do.”
Confidence customers e-mail Malveena at: should
Roberts customers can make contact via: