Badly potholed roads damage vehicles forcing Caithness bus operator to cancel route
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A bus company with numerous routes throughout Caithness was forced to put a hold one of its rural services due to its vehicles being damaged by badly potholed roads.
Aaron Wilson, who runs Aaron's of Wick, posted a message on the company's Facebook page on Monday morning (April 10) updating the public on its 915 service through the north of the county.
It reads: "This last week we have had several vehicles coming back with damage caused by the roads, out the Dunnet, Skarfskerry routes.
"We will not be covering these routes until the roads are made satisfactory for our vehicles and drivers to travel on."
The post detailed the affected roads are at Skarfskerry, the Dunnet back road via Ham and Barrock but it went on to state that school services and times are not affected and will run as usual. The company added: "The Thurso/Groats service will continue as normal, however we will only cover those 3 roads with school/service buses at school times."
Many locals appeared to sympathise with the bus operator and commented below the post. Wick and east Caithness councillor Raymond Bremner wrote: "I've reported this to the Traffic Officer in charge of the Council's bus contracts whom I assume has been made aware of the situation."
Meanwhile, fellow councillor for the Wick ward, Janet McEwan, messaged the Groat saying she did not blame Aaron for making the decision as "damage to his buses will be very expensive to fix".
She added: "If buses with their tyres can’t cope with the potholes what chance do motorists or cyclists have? I know the roads in Wick and Thurso are disgraceful but I think the council have forgotten about the little hamlets and villages. I [went through] Spittal last week and the road has been tarred through Mybster and then just about a mile from Spittal the road is awful.
"I think the extra money the council has said is for Caithness roads won’t cover the damage to all. The road workers are doing their best but they need help from the rest of the council areas."
Speaking for campaign group Caithness Roads Recovery (CRR), Iain Gregory said: "CRR have regularly highlighted the appalling state of the roads in this area.
"Residents and road-users have suffered costly damage, and there is a clear and present danger of a tragedy occurring. CRR have frequently posted pictures and reports, and we are aware that the situation has been raised with both local councillors, and the MSP.
"We are not at all surprised to hear that hugely expensive damage has been caused to buses, but it is quite shocking that we have reached a situation where it has become necessary for the operator to be left with no option other than to take this decision."
Mr Gregory continued: "Sadly, this collapse of the roads infrastructure is replicated in many areas across the county, and it is long past time that the Highland Council and the Scottish Government got together to take emergency action, before it is too late."
Councillor for the Thurso ward, Matthew Reiss, sent a selection of pictures he took along the routes an Aaron's of Wick driver had to travel for the 915 service to show how extensive the road damage is. These are reproduced in the gallery below:
Pentland Cabs taxi company owner Laurien Irvine has also had some of her fleet of vehicles damaged and told the paper: "We are spending thousands fixing tyres, springs, punctures etc.
"One taxi just came out the garage and two days later went for a council taxi test. It had a broken spring, failed the test which costs £114 and we had to get it fixed within 24 hours which everyone knows getting a garage that quick is impossible but we did manage to find someone – if we didn’t we would have to fork out again.
"Even trying to explain this to the council they where like 'tough get it fixed or it’s failed' when it's their roads are causing taxis to fail. Tests for taxis to be safe for the road, when the road is not safe for the taxis, is ridiculous. I refuse to buy any new cars like we used to – there is no point as they just get wrecked."
Highland Council was asked to comment on the matter and said that the three locations specified by Aaron's of Wick "were identified on the Caithness Capital Programme back in February’s Area Committee".
The council spokesperson added: "At the time it was noted that the priorities may change once winter has passed and that a reprioritising of the list will be agreed with local Councillors at the monthly Roads Meetings.
"We are currently reviewing and reprioritising the list for programming over the next couple of months. In the meantime Roads Squads are will be carrying reactionary repairs."
