A TOP boss at McGill’s has hit out at a councillor who accused the bus company of putting a “negative slant” on Renfrewshire Council’s roads investment, writes Jack Thomson. 

Councillor John Shaw, who represents Renfrew North, has taken issue with a leaflet distributed by the transport operator concerning works ongoing in the town’s Hairst Street.

The flyer told those who have had their bus journeys affected by the works to contact their MP, MSP or local councillors.

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And Councillor Shaw claimed McGill’s was “drumming up trade for elected members”, before explaining the situation.

He said on Thursday: “The works in question were scheduled to take place last year and then again in the summer this year but on both occasions they didn’t take place due to contractor workload.

“Rather than have them slip again I had pushed to them still to take place this year and was glad when they finally kicked off.

“The work has been more complicated than expected with the base underneath the road being in a far worse condition than expected, this has led to the delays in completion.

“There has also been fairly lengthy ‘curing’ times on the work completed meaning no other work can take place until it is complete.

“I confirmed today that the road is expected to re-open fully on Monday morning before the resurfacing works kick off on Sandy Road so we will not be hit with a double whammy of roadworks.

“After years of treading water on roads investment, this SNP council took the decision to double the investment of the previous administration and commit £47million on roads and footpaths over our five-year term.

“This was always going to mean an increase in short term delays as different roads are completed but was hopefully a price worth paying for a transformation in the state of our roads.

“It is disappointing then to see McGill’s try and put a negative slant on a project that has taken longer than expected due to unforeseen circumstances.”

However, Ralph Roberts, the managing director at McGill’s, issued a statement in response.

He said: “I see that Councillor Shaw misses the point completely. We have never complained that the council are working to give us better roads.

“The actual point is that McGill’s weren’t given enough notice to cope with the start of these works; no time for a risk assessment, no time for revised crew duties to be prepared to ensure that drivers got their legally required breaks, no time to draw up revised timetables to reflect the revised running times, no time to properly inform bus users from as far afield as Glasgow and Nethercraigs (the buses don’t start and stop in Renfrew).

“I don’t ask the council to understand the intricacies of bus operation, that is our job, all I ask is that they give adequate notice – six weeks minimum – to allow us to deal with these kinds of works.

“We hear a lot these days about council owned bus companies – I can pretty much guarantee that if Renfrewshire Council owned and operated the buses, they would behave differently.

“The hundreds of angry bus users that have called us about this would demand so.”

Renfrewshire Council confirmed Hairst Street will re-open by lunchtime on Monday and said they had been done in a way that would “minimise disruption”.

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A spokesman said: “These works were phased and scheduled to minimise disruption and advance notice above the statutory requirement was given to the local bus operator as well as advertised to the public.

“We are very considerate of the potential impact on bus services and as well as meeting with McGill’s in advance of our capital road resurfacing programme to discuss the details, advance consultation has seen us amend and adjust many works, including the recent resurfacing works at Limecraigs Crescent in Paisley which was amended to avoid disruption to the bus terminus.”

“As we deliver record-level investment in Renfrewshire roads we are working hard to ensure works are delivered as flexibly as possible, avoiding road closures and encouraging more flexible working whenever possible.”

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