A 79-YEAR-OLD lung cancer patient called Eric Spencer is the latest of many unfortunates to experience what Arriva has the gall to call a hospital transport service.
The company was due to pick up the Swindon man from a hospital in Oxford at 3.30pm on Thursday, but it was 6.45pm when the vehicle finally turned up.
The response from Ed Potter, head of South West, Arriva Transport Solutions, is a litany of the bland PR cliches to which such organisations are prone in these circumstances.
There is even the obligatory promise to learn from what has happened.
Frankly, we have our doubts about this claim.
After all, the company clearly didn’t learn enough last time to prevent another patient from suffering, just as it didn’t learn enough the time before that or on previous occasions.
Mr Potter points out that the service scheduled to reach Mr Spencer was diverted to another patient. This is a truly pitiful excuse, as it suggests that Arriva lacks the will, the ability or both to plan for such eventualities.
It has been the best part of a year since this company took over the service, yet it has failed to eliminate such shoddiness.
Should it also fail to keep its pledge to learn from the latest outrage, perhaps some teaching aids should be introduced.
We suggest a hefty fine for each failure, followed by the tearing of its contract into shreds if there is still no improvement.
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