A bus driver with a Buckinghamshire bus firm has called out working conditions and the company policy despite shortage of drivers. 

A former Carousel Buses driver, who asked to remain anonymous to protect his current job, voiced his concerns working for the company following reports of customer complaints.

While employed at Carousel Buses after an internal transfer within the parent company Go-Ahead Group during the height of the Covid pandemic, he reached his five-year milestone at the company. which forced him to return to live back with his family in Buckinghamshire.

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He explained: “With certain milestones, you get a bit of recognition and a certificate, for your dedication. I am still waiting for that from Oxford Bus Company [head office].

“Comparing to the other Go-Ahead company I was working for, Carousel Buses is horrible and awful.

“There is no management or structure.”

He felt like Carousel Buses was pushed to one side and “totally forgotten about, whilst finding their own feet” by the head office in Oxford.

During his time covering all of the routes across Buckinghamshire, he his suggestions for improvement were ignored, he claimed.

He said: “You need to invest to make improvements!”

“One of the suggestions that I made was to have the office or kiosk open, at the [High Wycombe] bus station because apart from the bus drivers, there is no company official down there and nine times out of ten, nobody knows what's going on.

He recounted the uncertainty while driving the loop ‘Park and Ride’ service 8 because “you wouldn’t know if there was a take-over driver or not” – meaning he often had to call his supervisor from his phone to ask to find out.

He said: “I did honestly feel for the passengers as they rely on the service to get up to and from Cressex, and obviously not knowing about the crew change until the very last minute.”

Eventually he left Carousel Buses in 2021 after hearing that other bus companies were either getting or in talks of getting pay rises, while “nothing was being mentioned or thought of” at Carousel.

However, after hearing the drivers had had a pay rise, he tried to re-join the company.

To his dismay the HR told him no “because of the company’s six month grace period.”

“Clearly not short on drivers then!”, he said.

Carousel Buses recently announced its plans for the new Pick Me Up on-demand bus service in High Wycombe. 

The former driver said: “It didn't work in Oxford, so who thought that it would work in Wycombe? Plus, also Carousel need drivers to operate it!

Carousel Buses was “excited” for the Pick Me Up service together with its delivery partner Buckinghamshire Council, said Luke Marion, the Carousel Buses interim managing director. 

“We have learnt a lot from Oxford Bus Company's experience as the first operator in the UK to deliver mass transit demand responsive transport and believe it can be a sustainable model when operated in partnership with the local authority, rather than on a fully commercial basis, as was the case with the service in Oxford,” he said.

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He said: “We value and consistently recognise and celebrate colleagues' long service. If a former colleague believes that they have not received recognition for length of service, we would happily investigate this, however without details of the individual making these allegations, this is difficult.

"There is a strong management team in place at the High Wycombe depot. We have a good staff and customer satisfaction rating and always strive for continued improvement.

"In the past two years we have increased pay rates for driver colleagues by more than 20 percent.

"We encourage colleagues to provide constructive feedback via regular surveys, which we act on where appropriate. Carousel Buses is a great place to work and we are sorry to hear a former colleague does not share that view."