‘Naturally as a representation body for bus passengers we wouldn’t disagree with giving bus passengers rights’, says BUS USERS UK Chairman Gavin Booth. ‘But the EU proposal simply to take the rights granted to international coach passengers and apply them to local bus services is not the way to go about it’.

The EU regulations would give passengers an automatic right to €220,000 compensation in the event of an accident, while other provisions would be quite impractical to implement on local bus services.

‘We have already seen some bus fares rise because of increased insurance costs for the current levels of compensation’, said Gavin Booth. ‘If this EU scheme were brought in, insurance premiums would go through the roof, and so would bus fares, while some of the smaller family-owned businesses which provide a high-quality service in many parts of the country would simply pack up’, he warned. ‘By all means let’s have rights for passengers, but let’s have a system that is sensible and commensurate with the small risks involved. We don’t want rights that are so generous that no-one can afford to go by bus any more!’

ENDS