‘Lower minimum age for bus drivers to 18’
LOWERING the minimum age at which someone can drive a bus to 18 would help CT Plus with its ongoing staff shortages, said company director Kevin Hart.
The company is currently running with 10% of its drivers off sick.
‘That’s having a significant impact,’ he said.
‘Any business would only budget for about 2-3% sickness.’
A combination of short-term illness and Covid has seen routes seriously hit in recent days, with more than 40 cancellations on Monday and Tuesday and a further 11 yesterday.
Mr Hart said that some routes were being covered by having one bus operate several routes in a chain.
The sickness has exacerbated what has been an ongoing shortage of staff at CT Plus over the last two years and it was a testament to all the staff that this has only started affecting services now, he said.
‘Covid has protected us a bit, as well, because the housing licences have been extended because people couldn’t get off the island. But we’ve now got to the point where people have got to the end of their licences and have got to disappear.’
The pool of available drivers is much more limited than it used to be, said Mr Hart, and the company was working with the States on how to ensure the continued flow of recruits from the UK and further afield.
Locally he said changing the minimum age of a driver would help. ‘If I was in the UK I could employ an 18-year-old as a bus driver.’
The minimum age in Guernsey is currently 21, but he said that if the company could train up younger drivers it would be teaching them valuable skills.
‘Some come out of further education and don’t know what they want to do. In my mind we’re up-skilling someone who’s not used to the road to becoming a better driver far earlier.’
He thought a salary of £30,000 to £35,000 a year would attract candidates, despite some anti-social hours.
He apologised for the current service disruption and said that the company was doing all it could to return to a full service, thanking staff for their continued efforts during this period.
n Call 700456 for the latest information or go to the CT Plus Facebook page or visit the website www.buses.gg for details of how services are affected.
n Anyone aged 21 or over interested in becoming a bus driver would get full training, free of charge, and should call the driving school on 719238.
