I am calling on the Scottish Government to remove free bus passes from young people using them to engage in violent, abusive and antisocial behaviour amidst a rise in reports of bus drivers being subjected to verbal and physical attacks.
I also took the opportunity to call for the Scottish Government to engage with Unite the Union’s proposed 15 Point safety road map to protect bus drivers in their workplace, including bus operators offering de-escalation training to all staff, ensuring all buses are fitted with robust safety screens and maintaining CCTV on buses to guarantee it is in working order during a debate on the abuse bus drivers are facing.
The Scottish Government is putting millions upon millions of pounds into those bus companies and should be making it absolutely clear to them that we expect to see the kind of actions that I have mentioned.
I wrote to the Cabinet Secretary for Transport on 16 August calling on the Scottish Government to hold a summit of the key stakeholders because some of the stories that bus drivers were telling me were horrendous.
People were going off work sick because of stress, and it was having an impact on their families as well.
The current situation is not good enough – we cannot simply say that we looked at the issue a year ago because, in my view, not enough progress has been made.
It is not acceptable that workers are going to their work and being attacked and being driven out of their jobs because of the threat of that or accepting that this is just part of the job that they need to deal with.
I am told it was pandemonium at Dunfermline bus station just a few weeks ago – it is clear not enough is being done to protect bus drivers and bus station staff and tackle this problem.
I completely support the provision of free bus passes to under 22s but it is a privilege not a right and it is clear that a small but growing minority are using them to engage in violent, abusive and antisocial behaviour.
That is why I made clear that the action we are demanding is the removal of free bus passes from anyone behaving in this manner and that the Scottish Government must act urgently on this demand.
