Pair of school buses on McLaren High pulled off road after 'defects' found during inspection

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A pair of buses operating on the McLaren High network have been taken off the route after an inspection revealed “defects”.The inspection, carried out by Police Scotland alongside the DVSA and Stirling Council, follows on from a fire on a McLaren High School bus service in June which saw pupils evacuated near Port of Menteith.The inspection took place on Tuesday morning at the school and was described as a “joint bus safety operation” between the three organisations.A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “On the morning of Tuesday, February 7, 2023, schools based officer PC Alison Chadwick, along with Callander community officers PC’s Lorna Deans and Donald King carried out a planned joint bus safety operation at McLaren High School in Callander, along with the DVSA and Stirling Council.“All buses and drivers were checked, which resulted in two buses being taken off the road and issued prohibition notices for detected defects.“The safety of children is paramount and we will continue to work with partner agencies to ensure this is the case.”The dramatic bus blaze in June prompted an investigation from Stirling Council transport chiefs, with then operators Carr’s Loch Lomond then being replaced on the M4 route linking Gartmore, Aberfoyle and Port of Menteith with McLaren High by First Scotland East.

A council spokesperson in August stressed the previous operators had already given notice to leave their contracts before the blaze took place, with the investigation into the causes of the blaze.Trossachs and Teith councillor Martin Earl said: “This is very worrying, especially given the school bus fire last year and other incidents involving breakdowns and fires on other services.