CALLS have been made for an investigation into a rising tide of bus and coach fires in Scotland.
The number of bus and coach fires has risen by over 50% over five years with more than 200 incidents in Scotland since 2015, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service statistics have revealed.
The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) has called for the trend to be “thoroughly investigated”.
They included a coach catching fire while transporting school children in Livingston in 2019.
The number of fires tackled by firefighters increased from 31 in 2015-16 to 32 the following year, then increased again to 43 in 2017-18, before rising for a third year to 48 in 2018-19.
In 2020/21 the total fell by one, but there have been 12 so far in 2020-21, despite bus and coach travel being dramatically cut due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: "These figures show a concerning increase in the number of bus fires in Scotland recorded in recent years.
“We believe it is important this trend is thoroughly investigated and action taken to tackle the causes of bus fires.
"RMT has longstanding concerns about the risks to bus workers and passengers of vehicle fires.
"There should be a consistent, industry-wide approach to bus safety which ensures all operators are complying with their health and safety duties, there is a comprehensive evacuation procedure that is communicated to bus workers and passengers, operators ensure bus drivers can directly and easily contact emergency services in the event of an incident, all vehicles are regularly maintained and inspected, and the potential for fires is thoroughly risk assessed.”
In January, last year an investigation was launched after a double-decker bus was set on fire outside Glasgow Fort shopping centre.
Emergency services were called to the busy shopping centre after the bus was deliberately set on fire.
No one was on board the bus at the time as the vehicle was parked at a terminus to allow a driver change over.
First Bus has confirmed it was one of their new fleet of eco vehicles bought as part of a £100million investment.
It was ordered for Glasgow city centre's Low Emission Zone (LEZ).
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel