A SHORTAGE of bus drivers in Basingstoke has resulted in dozens of services being cancelled at short notice across the town - with more than 80 cancelled so far this week. 

A Basingstoke hospital nurse contacted the Gazette raising concerns about frequently cancelled bus services from the town centre to Baughurst, forcing hospital staff to pay for taxis to get to work.

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Now, Stagecoach has confirmed that its services in Basingstoke have been hit by driver shortages, resulting in the company having to cancel services in the town at short notice.

The company said there is a nationwide shortage of bus and coach drivers across the UK, which is having an impact on services in Basingstoke.

On Monday, the company announced on Twitter more than 30 bus cancellations in Basingstoke because of staff sickness. 

This included services to Brighton Hill, Baughurst, South Ham, Chineham and Hatch Warren.

Further cancellations were announced on both Tuesday and Wednesday totalling more than 80 cancellations within three days.  

However, Stagecoach said it is running more than 96 per cent of journeys in Basingstoke. 

 

A spokesperson said the bus driver shortages "sometimes means cancelling services". 

They added: "This remains a last resort and [is] kept to a minimum. Customers can keep up-to-date with service information via our Twitter.

"We are also taking proactive steps to alleviate the situation by recruiting new drivers and are focused on getting our team members through our training programmes and on the road as soon as we can.”

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Stagecoach apologised to Basingstoke hospital staff for the cancelled services impacting their journey to work.

The spokesperson added: “Driver shortages are affecting bus and coach companies across the UK, it takes weeks to get new recruits through the system to replace leavers and short-term sickness can also affect service levels too.

“This is all managed by the local operations team who work incredibly hard to ensure cancellations remain a last resort and we continue to run the majority of services as normal.”

The Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) – the trade association for the bus and coach sector - said there is a 10 per cent vacancy rate for bus drivers in the UK according to its latest research.

A spokesperson for the CPT said the problems have been created by a “perfect storm”, explaining: “There is a shortage of labour across the UK economy for all sectors and bus and coach drivers are amongst the professions affected.

"We have lost a lot of drivers caused by a number of external factors primarily from the fallout from the pandemic and Brexit, which has created a perfect storm.

“We have a greater number of people than usual leaving the industry due to EU nationals choosing to return to their home countries. As a result, vacancies are more than double what we saw in 2019.”

The CPT has launched a recruitment campaign called ‘Thank You Driver’ and is also urging the government to take action.

The CPT spokesperson said: “We need the government to work with us to ensure the supply of labour is as big as it possibly can be. This might involve encouraging people to return to the workforce or recruiting from overseas, which could include adding bus and coach drivers to the shortage occupation list for a skilled worker’s visa."

In August, the CPT wrote an open letter to the Conservative leadership candidates highlighting the support the sector needs to solve driver shortage issues.

Graham Vidler, chief executive of CPT, called on the government to “take immediate action” to help the industry solve driver shortages which he said “should mirror the effort put into recruiting new HGV drivers and is critical in allowing operators to support communities with necessary service levels”.

CPT published a strategy setting out how to increase bus journeys by 2030 by one billion.

It is campaigning for the creation of a National Bus Strategy to help connect communities and help “fight climate change”.