Leasing is now the normal way of funding a new school or club minibus. But when it comes to maintaining your new school minibus, we know from experience that it is difficult to know where to start.
Most minibuses are operated by not for profit clubs and organisation, in most school cases they are covered by a local authority umbrella licence but some are operated as part of the main business such as a hotel, private school or nursery. Where the minibus is part of your business, it must be run under an operator’s licence
Day to day safety of the minibus is vital in all cases, as all still in public service and can be stopped at any time for inspection. Under an operator’s licence, VOSA has laid out a set of guidelines for upkeep. Laid out in 2013 guidelines, the VOSA operators guidelines require that a person must be responsible for the minibus and that any driver should have completed a certificate of professional competence
VOSA require a structured safety plan with a weekly safety check and a daily walk round to check tyres, lights, wipers etc. Monthly, professional inspections are required and the agreement with an authorised garage should be copied and sent to VOSA. If this agreement changes at any time, VOSA should be notified. Records of all services and MOT’s should be kept for 15 months minimum. Servicing your own vehicles is acceptable where your servicing facilities are already carrying out similar work and are registered with VOSA.