Stagecoach blames 'staff shortage' for bus cancellations in Northampton after sending drivers to Commonwealth Games

Bus operator Stagecoach is under fire over cancelling services in Northampton blaming a shortage of drivers.

The company axed more than 100 services covering around 20 routes to and from the town on Monday (August 8).

Services in Daventry and Kettering were also affected.

Stagecoach said it sent some of its drivers to operate shuttles for competitors and spectators at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

Hundreds of drivers from Stagecoach divisions across the UK were involved at the Games and the company insisted only a “small number” were from Northampton.

A Stagecoach Northampton spokesman added: “We supported a 'large sporting event' in the West Midlands with drivers from across the country.

“Those drivers are due to return soon.

“The combination of those returning and people completing their training will help cover the holidays.

“Our teams continue to work hard to ensure that we run the vast majority of our journeys and remain focused on prioritising services we know are most important for our customers.”

In nearby Bedford, Stagecoach said it had prepared “well in advance” but blamed a skills shortage and sickness for cancellations while councillors in North Devon labelled disruption in their area a ‘slap in the face’ for regular users.

Stagecoach has been in the firing line since last year as enforced absences through Covid added to problems caused by national shortage of HGV drivers, leading to cancellations.

Disruption continued into 2022, although Stagecoach again promised improvements.

A spokesman added: “We have seen a strong uptake for roles with Stagecoach. However, it takes an average of 10 weeks for a professional bus driver to be fully trained.

“We have new drivers graduating our driving school all the time with some more later in the week which will help alleviate some of the pressure currently being experienced.

“We apologise to our customers who have been affected and thank them for their patience with our frontline teams.

“Where we do have to make changes to our services, we are providing live updates to our customers through Twitter.”

Bus users say the increased number in cancellations was inevitable once Stagecoach won the contract to run buses at the Games.

Transport blogger Roger French said: “Stagecoach gained the contract to provide additional bespoke shuttle transport for the event and have shipped in a multitude of double deck buses and drivers from all over the country to two pop up garages at Erdington and Oldbury.

“It’s reported as many as 710 buses are involved in the operation.

“Coming at peak staff holiday season this deployment is having a devastating impact on an already tight driver position at Stagecoach’s operating companies throughout the country.

“It’s certainly a massive operation which only the likes of Stagecoach can tackle as a large resourced organisation. But it perhaps could have done with much more sub-contracting, as happened in the Olympics, to spread the requirement around and reduce the impact on any one bus company — especially bearing in mind the current ‘national driver shortage’.”