Dounreay worker accuses Stagecoach of treating public with contempt over 'totally unacceptable' bus services
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A Caithness woman has accused Stagecoach of treating the public with contempt over the "totally unacceptable" bus services that she relies on to get to and from work.
Dounreay employee Jean Jack claims that buses frequently "whizz past" the designated stop in Sir George's Street, Thurso, while she and others are waiting to be picked up on weekday mornings – leaving the passengers to hang on for a later service.
She also says buses leaving from outside the Dounreay site at the end of the working day are almost always late.
“I feel that they don't care because there's no competition," said Mrs Jack (57), of Rose Street, Thurso. "They know that they can get away with it."
Her concerns centre on the 281 service, which according to the Stagecoach timetable is scheduled to stop at Sir George's Street at 7.20am each weekday, and the 277, which is due there at 7.22am. When she misses those, she has to resort to the 280 which doesn't arrive at Sir George's Street until 7.28am.
She has written to local politicians as well as Stagecoach co-founder Sir Brian Souter expressing her frustration.
"Buses are supposed to stop [in the morning at Sir George's Street] but it seems that it depends on who the driver is as to whether they stop or not," Mrs Jack said.
"I did contact the local manager about this, but I feel that my complaint that I was often left standing – often in very poor weather – was not taken seriously.
"I know they're not full – I can see they're not. They are only allowed to take so many people onto a bus now. But to be mostly empty and just whizz past, to see me standing and just ignore the fact that I'm there, especially in the winter, really irritates me.
“I've not actually missed work but I have been very late getting in."
Mrs Jack claimed buses were breaking down "probably once a week".
She went on: “And they never leave [from Dounreay] on time. They're supposed to leave the site at twenty-five past four. In the last 10 years I can count on one hand the amount of times that has happened.
"Sometimes it's only two or three minutes – but it's still late.
“The bus stops are not big enough for all the people that are waiting, especially now with social distancing.
“Folk are going from home from work, they've got caring duties, they've got kids, they've maybe got elderly parents that they look after, and they cannot guarantee what time they're going to get home. Not everybody has a car.
“I'm not blaming the drivers, but I think they don't manage the routes so that the drivers have enough time to come to Dounreay to pick up the passengers.
"It is totally unacceptable but I feel that Stagecoach treats us with contempt. We get excuse after excuse but no improvements. We are treated like second-class citizens."
Mrs Jack added: “We've tried going the nice way about it by contacting the person that's in charge of the buses from the Dounreay site. I don't blame her – she is banging her head off a brick wall as well.
“I feel sometimes they just tell her what she wants to hear to keep her mouth shut. I might be wrong, but that's the impression I get – because they've got no competition.
“It has not always been like that. I worked at Dounreay in the 1990s and the buses were never like this. It's terrible.
“If they have spaces, which I know one of them specifically does, why aren't they stopping when they're supposed to do so according to their timetable?”
A spokesperson for Stagecoach Highland said: "We work closely with Dounreay to ensure the services we provide meet the standards they and our customers expect. Occasionally there can be delays at Dounreay at the security gate.
"However, we will discuss all of the points raised by Mrs Jack directly with Dounreay in order to identify any possible improvements to these services to make travelling to the site by bus as easy as possible."
