A30 bus 'not a school or college bus' assurances given after blaze

The damaged carriageway following the fire on the A30
-Credit:National Highways


First Bus has come out to reassure people that its bus which burnt down on the A30 near the Cornwall-Devon border was not school or college service.

The company said it wanted to quash rumours about the bus service following the incident at the weekend in which a bus was destroyed in a blaze and a section of the A30 between Launceston and Sourton Cross had to be closed for resurfacing after being severely damaged by the flames and intense heat.

The road eventually reopened, with the eastbound dual carriageway restricted to one lane past the scene of the fire for all of Sunday (February 2) because the blistering heat of the blaze completely wrecked the road surface.

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There have been growing safety concerns about buses following a spate of fires on the country's road. In April last year, a double-decker bus caught fire on the A30 near Temple outside Bodmin. At the time, First Bus confirmed that the bus in question had just completed a school run and dropped off 50 children from Minions to Callington, although at the time of the incident the bus did not have any passengers on board.

The bus is also understood to have been used in the past for the 116 service which is a Poltair school run in St Austell as well as the 272 Truro College to Looe service.

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Back in the spring last year the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) voiced its concerns that Cornwall's buses are ageing and no longer safe and should be replaced with a new fleet in a bid to avoid a potentially fatal tragedy.

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Following this week's blaze, the RMT has again expressed concerns that the next bus fire could be fatal and has asked that a proper investigation into the cause of this fire is carried out by an independent expert.

In a letter to Simon Goff, First South West managing director, RMT rep for the region Barry West said many driver members have expressed concerns that it might be their vehicle next and that lives will be lost, or life changing injuries will occur.

He said the RMT is seeking reassurances from the company that all is being done to stop these foreseeable and likely events happening again.

He said there has been some suggestions the bus that burnt down near Sourton Cross had been recently used in Cornwall for college work and carrying young people.

In his letter seen by CornwallLive he said: "My mind took me back to a very recent event here in Cornwall April 2024 when another First bus vehicle also was travelling on the A30 after dropping of I believe some 50 school children a very lucky escape for those young people and families. That incident resulted in a large fuel spillage as understood from press reports at the time.

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"For that incident First Bus did their own internal investigation by an employee of First Bus, albeit out of the area, this did nothing to reassure our members as they were in the words of some were marking their own homework. This is not independent or desirable where such high stakes are quite apparent."

He added: "Bus drivers are asking for reassurances that it won't be their bus next. The RMT will continue to fight for safer public transport for those who rely and depend upon it so much, either for leisure or essential journeys."

First Bus said the bus involved in the weekend fire had not been used for school or college transport work and was on its way to Bath to be used there as part of what they called a 'cascading' system where buses are moved around the country as the fleet gets upgraded.

A spokesperson for First Bus in Cornwall said: "When the incident happened, the vehicle had not been in service as it was being driven to Bath where it was being cascaded to another part of our business. The bus had not been on a school or college run that day, there were no passengers on board, and the driver was unharmed.

"Safety is our number one priority, and a full, detailed independent investigation will take place, which is standard practice. We have robust fire safety procedures in place and when it comes to our vehicles, they are rigorously inspected and serviced by our specialist engineering teams in line with the undertakings on our operators licence.

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"At this very early stage we don’t have answers to the cause of the fire, but we will conduct a full investigation by a qualified fire investigator. As with any incident, following the investigation, our insurers will deal with the cost of any relevant damage."

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