School buses taken off road for leaking brake lines, broken emergency gear

Faulty emergency equipment and leaking brake and fuel lines prompted seven school buses to be taken off the road in eastern Newfoundland.

Island Bus Services, a private companyin Portugal Cove-St. Philips,is on contract with the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District toservice schools on the Southern Shore and in St. John's.

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Spot inspections by the school district turned up a number of issues with the buses in the company's fleet.

ServiceNLMinisterEddie Joycesays theinspections turned up a fuel leak, brake lines leaking, inoperable emergency equipmentincluding emergency doors and windows seized shutand flashing lights not operating.

In total, seven of the company'sbuses were taken off the road, while two otherswere allowed to stay on the road but could not carry students.

In all, 18 of Island Bus Services buses were inspected during the week of Oct.10.

What happened?

The province inspects all school buses prior to the school year, and Joyce said government is "looking into" how these nine buses fell through the cracks.

"We will do an evaluation of what happened when the inspection is done," said Joyce.

Joyce saidhe doesn't know whythese buses were flagged for a spot inspection, but addedunannounced inspections do happen on occasion.

Anycompany that continues to fail inspections could lose its contract with the school board, Joyce said,"but, in most cases, we rectify the situation."

"To the best of my knowledge there have been no sanctions in this case," said Joyce.

Late Wednesday afternoon, the EnglishSchool District told the CBC that one of Island Bus Services buses had gone off the road, so the school district asked ServiceNL to inspect all of the company's buses.

The school district saidthe company's contract for Leary's Brook Junior High and Larkhall Academy has been suspended, but could be reinstated once those buses are repaired to standard and re-inspected.

The school district saidno problems were found with the company's buses on the Southern Shore.

Messages left for the owner of Island Bus Services, Paul Cummings, were not returned.