By Sarah Newstead

Last updated 05:39, Friday, 12 September 2008

CUMBRIA County Council has reassured passengers and parents over the Wigton coach firm whose drivers breached working hours rules.

Beverley Bell: The traffic commissioner gave warnings or suspensions to 29 drivers

On Monday, 29 drivers from Reays Coaches appeared before the North West Traffic Commissioner at Kendal Magistrates’ Court after admitting breaking rules on working hours, breaks and records.

One driver admitted spending 21 hours behind the wheel and another drove more than 16 consecutive days without a rest day.

Commissioner Beverley Bell handed out verbal warnings to 24 drivers and suspended the licences of five others for up to 56 days.

She said the drivers had placed themselves, their passengers and other road users at risk.

At an earlier hearing in July, a further nine drivers were given warnings and one other was suspended for a week.

Reays provides transport for 13 schools across the county and operates a number of public bus services on behalf of the council.

The council pledged to continue to use Reays for school runs and public services in July and this week a council spokesman said it remained “satisfied” with the operator.

He added: “In light of our discussions with the company, we won’t be withdrawing any of our contracts as we are confident that the company has learned from the findings of the Traffic Commissioner and has implemented the necessary changes.

“The irregularities that the Traffic Commissioner highlighted relate to European tachograph legislation from 2006 and were not committed on any of the services that Reays carry out for Cumbria County Council.

“We have met with the company’s directors and their new transport manager following the findings from the Traffic Commissioner and are confident that Reays has in place the necessary operating procedures to be able to offer a safe and reliable service.”

Monday’s hearing followed a series of prosecutions over falsified journey records and a hearing in July where nine further drivers were given verbal warnings and one other was suspended for a week.

Mrs Bell also withdrew its licence to operate three HGVs.

Its licence to operate coaches and buses was also cut from 40 to 25 vehicles for a period of three months.

The commissioner said the company was paying “lip service to the rules” and called into question the reputation of company boss, Christopher Reay, who was ordered to step down as transport manager.

A Reays spokesman said: “Of all the drivers dealt with at today’s hearing, only two remain employed by Reays Coaches. The rest had already left voluntarily or been dismissed. Many of them are now working for other local firms.

“All the cases referred to today involved work practices from back in 2006. None led to any incidents or accidents involving Reays Coaches.

“Reays Coaches co-operated fully with the investigation and have since brought in a series of new training procedures and working practices.”

Regulations state that drivers must take a break every four and a half hours and cannot drive for over nine hours in a 24 hour period.