Bus driver disability awareness training review

Tue,27 January 2015
News

Baroness Kramer has completed a review into EU Regulation 181/2011 and a mandatory disability awareness training exemption that currently applies for bus and coach drivers. Here is a Summary of responses

EU Regulation 181/2011 (on bus and coach passenger rights) came into force on 1 March 2013. When this happened, DfT made use of a derogation to exempt bus and coach drivers from undertaking mandatory disability awareness training for 5 years.

Ministers committed to review that exemption after 1 year to assess whether drivers were receiving adequate training under the current system.

You can view the summary here.

Following the recent decision on Firstgroup Plc v Paulley it was established that a driver has no power, under the Public Service Vehicles (Conduct of Drivers, Inspectors, Conductors and Passengers) Regulations (the 'conduct regulations') to compel any passenger who is not a wheelchair user to move from a designated wheelchair area.

Leave has been sought to take this decision to the Supreme Court but there is currently a consultation on 'conduct regulations' and we decided to use this opportunity to suggest that the law be changed.

You can view our response here.

Summary of main responses to the mandatory driver disability awareness review

Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT)

The CPT opinion was that regulation to make disability awareness training mandatory is not required and that the current voluntary arrangement is working. Since September 2008, in order to hold a DCPC, all bus and coach drivers have been required by law to undertake 35 hours of training ever 5 years. The vast majority of bus and coach drivers have now undertaken disability awareness training.

Guide Dogs

Guide Dogs stated that their latest passenger survey data indicates that the current provision of disability awareness training is insufficient. They argue that mandatory training for all bus drivers would considerably improve the lives of blind and partially sighted bus passengers. Their passenger survey consisted of 1085 responses and highlighted that 83% of disabled respondents said their experiences with bus drivers had stayed the same or got worse over the past 12 months.

RNIB

Although they welcome the introduction of disability awareness training to the Driver CPC training programme, RNIB do not feel this goes far enough as it is not compulsory and the quality and consistency of the CPC based disability training is not monitored. They are concerned that there is no nationally recognized accredited disability awareness training for transport providers and therefore believe it is especially important that bus operators consider the quality of their training carefully.

Action on Hearing Loss

AHL feel it is likely that the non-mandatory approach to disability awareness training contributes to the variation in standards experienced by people with

hearing loss when travelling by bus. They feel the exemption sends a message that this type of training is not a priority and question whether the exemption encourages operators to undertake sufficiently comprehensive disability awareness training.

While CPT have previously indicated that 75% of drivers have undertaken this training, AHL are concerned that an indication of the level of comprehensiveness of this training is not provided.

Trailblazers

Some of the issues that Trailblazers are reporting include:

  • Bus drivers claiming that the bus is full and so will not let a wheelchair user on board even when there is space
  • The bus driver refusing to insist that the owner of a pram folds it up to accommodate a wheelchair user even if this is the bus operator’s policy
  • Bus drivers claiming that the ramp is not working and not checking if it works
  • Drivers not stopping close to the curb making it difficult for ambulant disabled people as well as wheelchair users to board and alight
  • In one third of journeys undertaken by Trailblazers the respondents said that the driver was not helpful
  • In one in three of the journeys made by Trailblazers the survey respondent was unable to board the first relevant bus to arrive at their stop.

Trailblazers feel that mandatory disability training would mean disabled people would find fewer barriers and better attitudes when they choose to take public transport and feel more confident in exploring the use of buses as a potential transport option.

Trailblazers also say it is imperative drivers know how to utilise this new equipment. Training for disability awareness should be central part of the driver role, as an integral part of customer service and passenger experience.