Careless torque　costs lives

摘要

Just two short months ago, Joan Aitken, the traffic commissioner for Scotland, issued formal warnings to three Stagecoach Group subsidiaries, and imposed a condition on a fourth's licence, preventing it from expanding beyond its 160-vehicle fleet. Her ruling, at a public inquiry, followed a series of wheel loss incidents and adverse reports from VOSA vehicle examiners. What's interesting about this inquiry is twofold. First, it demonstrates to unbelievers that wheel security, even in 2011, remains a worrying issue. And secondly, the inquiry accepted that the incidents happened despite the Stagecoach operators -particularly Perth, Fife, and Glasgow - being well run ships, all the way from maintenance to drivers and engineering management. Stagecoach Strathtay fared less well, because it took one of the firm's drivers to blow the whistle.