If you go to Google and type in “School minibus risk assessment” you’ll come up with the inevitable 50,000 or more hits. 

If you are like me you’ll probably limit yourself to selecting a site from the first page of Google – which is exactly what I did, picking one website at random which offered a sample risk assessment for school minibuses.

And that is when I started to get worried, for a large number of these risk assessments require the driver or responsible person to ensure the roadworthiness of the vehicle prior to use.

Of course vehicles do have to be checked, but checking a vehicle that is (for example) over five years old takes a lot of time.

So if I were asked to sign to say I had checked a vehicle to make sure it is fully compliant with school or LA rules I’d want to have my school and local authority give me some reassurance in return that the minibus was being fully maintained by experts, and was not so old that it was liable to develop some significant fault.

Now fortunately however there is a solution to this dilemma.  

This occurs where the minibus is leased from a company that includes maintenance and servicing, (including checking tyres, clutch, battery) included within the payments of the vehicle’s lease.

Indeed it was to overcome issues and difficulties such as that outlined in the risk assessment above that we introduced full maintenance as part of our minibus leasing.  Not only do the schools that use us get a new minibus, without having to use current capital to buy it, they also get our certification that the bus has been checked by qualified engineers.

If you would like to know more there is more information on our website.  Alternatively give us a call on 01753 859 944.