Bolton: Diamond Bus user 'frustrated' by constant cancellations

Deane resident William Nightingale uses the number 8 Diamond bus service to commute to his job as a verger at Manchester Cathedral. He often finishes late in the evening.

Mr Nightingale arrived at Shudehill bus station in Manchester in time for the scheduled 10.30pm bus back to Bolton to be met with a notice saying that the service would not be running due to staff shortages, along with six other services that evening.

“It was half of all the buses form 8pm onwards,” he said.

“This is an ongoing issue in the Bolton area and if you complain to Diamond nobody wants to know. The responses are generic or non-existent.

“This has been going on ever since Dimond took over the depot on Weston Street. It was bad before the pandemic and there have been staffing issues ever since.

“They’re always being cancelled or very late, and they sometimes go off route for no reason in the Manchester area."

The notice of cancelled buses at Shudehill on Saturday (Image: William Nightingale)

A Diamond Bus spokesman says the company is working hard to recruit new drivers but there currently is a national shortage due to a combination of Brexit, Covid, and shortages in other industries tempting bus drivers to leave the industry.

Teh spokesman said there here have been high levels of retirement from the profession post covid.

He added: “We are offering unprecedented amounts of money to tempt drivers - £2000 - and rewarding employees who tempt new drivers in with £250.”

READ MORE: Bolton bus users bemoan 'appalling' Diamond bus service

They also say that they are paying for other agencies to find drivers for its buses, and advertising on social media and job sites, as well as attending job centres and using ex-military and overseas agencies.

The spokesperson said: “One of the challenges we are currently facing is the amount of roadworks our services are facing across the network.

“Service 8 has been hit hard with a number of works across the boroughs it passes through.

William Nightingale (Image: William Nightingale)

“We continue to engage with the local authorities to try and reduce the impact these are having. We are working hard to manage delays.”

Mr Nightingale says he uses the service five or six times a week and when these things happen it is “incredibly frustrating” and causes him stress.

He added: “When you finish work you want to get some as quickly as possible. You just want things to run smoothly.”

On the companies complaints process, the Diamond Bus spokesperson said: "We constantly review our processes and use feedback like this to assess and change what we do where needed."

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