CALLS went out yesterday for more controls to ensure that drivers of public transport meet safety requirements, following an incident on Wednesday when a drunk Polish bus driver rampaged down a Nicosia avenue.
Communications Minister Nicos Nicolaides said yesterday that supervisions and checks are conducted to ensure that drivers in the public service meet the requirements imposed by public safety.
However according to the Nicosia Bus Company their only method was occasionally “smelling” the drivers to see if they’d been drinking.
The company cannot order a breathalyser unless they receive a complaint, they said.
Loucas Evgeniou the Director of the company told reporters the drivers they hire must hold a professional driving license granted by the Road Transport Department.
“We check the drivers every so often at the office before they go on their routes. The method we use is talking to them and smelling them to see whether they consumed alcohol or not,” he said.
This practice particularly applied to the four or five foreigners working for the company, he said “because we have heard that they drink”.
He said in the case of Wednesday’s incident the company did have complaints from a number of passengers in the past. “We called the police and they put him through two alcohol tests, which tested negative,” Evgeniou said.
“We called the police for a third time, but they said they couldn’t carry out an alcohol test without there being a complaint, so we assumed that he didn’t drink.”
He said the basic problem was a shortage of drivers.
“The fact of the matter is that unfortunately we cannot find bus drivers to employ so we are left with no choice but to bring them in from abroad in order for us to keep up with the routes. We do our best to hire drivers that are experienced and responsible and we have sent a letter to the Road Transport Department asking for their help.”
He said it was difficult to monitor all the drivers on a daily basis. He said if the company had 100 drivers it was impossible to check all of them one by one.
The 52-year-old Pole was arrested and he was found to be four times over the permissible alcohol level limit of 22mg. He initially tested with 88 mg of alcohol in his blood, while a second test showed 82 mg.
He was only caught when a member of the public called the police and complained that the bus had been swerving erratically across the road.
“There is no place in public transport for such drivers,” Minister Nicolaides said.
He said the company informed the Ministry that they had terminated the driver’s contract and that his licence would be suspended until the case went to court.
Nicolaides said that supervision was very strict but also mentioned the shortage of drivers.
The Ministry was working on special programmes to encourage people to engage in professional driving through hiring female bus drivers, he said.
Green party leader George Perdikis yesterday said: “There is a problem…. the lack of local drivers, obliges public transport companies to switch to foreign personnel. They have to confront the problems of the competence of these people when they are behind the wheel”.
Perdikis said the incidence of intoxicated drivers was common. “Further checks on the issuing of professional licences, specifically for foreigners, as well as more inspections on the road are needed,” he said.
The Pole was the second bus driver to be caught driving drunk in Nicosia. In the first incident in 2006 the driver was also Polish. The driver was so drunk that other motorists were forced to drive on to the pavements to avoid being hit by his bus.
The then 48-year old was fined only around €400 even though he was found to be five times over the limit.
