Contracts have proved to be lucrative for bus companies

Apr 17 2008

COUNCIL leader Eddie McAvoy admitted that the decant arrangements were both expensive and inconvenient for the pupils involved.

He added, however, that there was no alternative if the council were to provide modern schools equipped for the 21st century.

He said the transport costs had been included in the overall bill for the schools’ modernisation, and added: “If you want to build new schools instead of refurbishing them, one of the downsides is that you have to decant.

“It is inconvenient for the children who are being transported, but we are planning for the next 20 or 30 years and the generation of pupils to come.”

Stephen Breen (40) was one of the parents who reacted angrily to the decant arrangements put in place for his five-year-old daughter Katy and other pupils from St John the Baptist, Uddingston.

The primary closed in February for a nine-month refurbishment, costing £3.5m.

Since then the school’s 360 pupils have been travelling to the former Hamilton Grammar annexe in the town’s Hope Street.

The bill for transporting the youngsters will be £198,000.

Mr Breen said the decant was inevitable, adding: “We were more concerned about the safety of the children.

“However, I know Uddingston Grammar is closing (when they move to the new school currently under construction).

“Parents are saying why could the refurbishment not have been delayed until summer when the children could have been decanted to part of the old grammar, which is about half-a-mile from St John’s.”

Salsburgh-based firm Golden Eagle have so far earned £442,779 from the schools decant contracts.

Their vehicles have been used to take children from Hamilton primaries to the town’s St Peter’s campus.

They also supply four double-deckers used to convey children from Trinity High to Holy Cross.

Like other coach firms involved in the decant, they also have to meet the cost of attendants and pay fuel charges for gas-guzzling vehicles with consumption as low as five miles to the gallon.

A spokesman for Golden Eagle, who are 90 years old and in the hands of the third generation of the Irvine family, said the decant transport contracts had been important to them.

“There are 190 school days a year and that is 190 days out of the year when you have got work guaranteed,” he said.

“We will always survive because you would have looked for other work, but these contracts have helped us expand.

“We have taken on another four drivers and have 20 vehicles including nine double-deckers.”

Other bus companies to have benefited from the decants are McKindless with contracts to date worth £633,948, and Silver Choice who have earned £327,759.