Police run checks on school transport vehicles

Officers from Greater Manchester Police’s Traffic Network Section recently checked 260 vehicles used to transport children to and from schools.

The checks were run between 4 and 15 March as part of Operation Coachman, a national initiative to ensure that coaches, buses and taxis used for school transport, and their drivers, are safe and lawful.

Police ran the checks outside schools across Greater Manchester, and were helped by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency, local authority licensing teams and road fuel testing officials.

Of the vehicles stopped, three were seized for being driven without insurance or a licence, seven were issued with rectification notices for defects and three were found to have bald tyres.

Sergeant Tony Belshaw of GMP’s Specialist Operations branch said: “The aim of this operation is to ensure that all vehicles which take children to and from schools are safe and lawful, and parents of pupils can rest assured that we will continue to run frequent checks to ensure that the region’s roads are safe for all who use them.”