A community bus firm which transports youngsters to college and the elderly to appointments has had most of its vehicle permits revoked by the Traffic Commissioner who stopped it providing home to school transport and also questioned the legality of its operation.

An inquiry found North Dorset Community Accessible Transport (Nordcat) 'does not have the competence or capability' to maintain vehicles after an inspection found a 76% MOT failure rate on its fleet which includes minibuses and larger buses.

Traffic Commissioner Kevin Rooney said his assessment of the maintenance systems "is that they are about as poor as anything I have ever seen".

Mr Rooney said he would revoke all of the large bus permits and 15 of the small bus permits - with effect from 24 July 2023. He is attaching a condition to the remaining permits (5) that they are not to be used for home to school transport.

The Commissioner heard that Nordcat, a registered charity, held a contract with Kingston Maurward College to provide home to school transport involving ten minibuses and one 33-seater. Some of those being transported are students with special education needs. The service was provided by subsidiary business Nordcat Services Ltd.

Other minibuses were used for daily transport for the elderly to and from the shops, to stroke club, hospital appointments, etc.

The operator had been called to a preliminary hearing in November 2020 following a maintenance investigation. Issues appeared to be addressed with 'statements of intent' including about purchasing a decelerometer for a vehicle. The Commissioner also directed a staff member to attend a course and a technician to undertake certain training. However a public inquiry was called after a maintenance investigation last August found a number of shortcomings including

* No evidence of a safety defect and recall system

* No evidence of brake tests completed

* Difficult to establish how effective driver defect reporting system is

* MOT failure rate at 76.6%

* Vehicles presented for test with obvious failure items

* Ineffective system of wheel security and tyre management

The Commissioner found that a decelerometer was not purchased despite assurances that it would be.

The Commissioner said: "My assessment of the maintenance systems is that they are about as poor as anything I have ever seen. Inspections appear to follow no logical pattern. At times, they are 15 to 21 weeks apart. At others, they are as close as a fortnight. There is not one compliant inspection record in the entire bundle.

"The law changed in early 2021 banning the use of tyres over ten years old on the front axle of PSVs. This change was catalysed by a crash with multiple fatalities caused by an old tyre failing catastrophically on the front of a coach on the M3 in 2013.

"This operator does not see the need to check the age of the tyres. Ever. Recording of tyre tread depths on safety inspection records is inconsistent but appears to indicate that second-hand tyres are fitted. In those circumstances, it is even more crucial that tyre age be monitored."

He added: "The only positive I can find is that there is a new technician who seems to have a reasonable background – although even his own vehicle has not been subject to a brake performance test over the last four inspections.

"This is a permit operation. That does not mean that the passengers and other road users do not deserve to be safe. I cannot apply a lower standard for maintenance than I would for a public service vehicle operation.

"I find that the operator does not have the competence or capability to maintain larger vehicles. It does not have the competence or capability to maintain any significant number of smaller vehicles."

Following the hearing the Commissioner called into question the operation's governance and structure after hearing from solicitors acting for the operator which stated Nordcat Services Ltd does not hold any contracts for work and does not handle any money.

The Commissioner said this meant the subsidiary was either an illegal operator of public service vehicles or that Nordcat has apparently published false accounts for a number of years.

He concluded that Nordcat's charitable status is not sufficient to satisfy non-commercial status as the home to school income is almost all of Nordcat's income with 90 per cent of its operation is under competitive tender.

He said the operator couldn't say it was non commercial and therefore couldn't be exempt from public service vehicle operator requirements.

The Commissioner added that the operator could meet the definition of being exempt if he was to revoke all of the large bus permits and all bar five of the small bus permits. He would also attach a condition to the remaining permits that they are not to be used for home to school transport.

He said the Charity Commission will be notified to consider the operator's 'anomalous position'.