I RECENTLY moved to Bournemouth and have been astounded by the attitude and actions of coach drivers who leave their engines idling for sometimes over half an hour whilst stationary without any real reason.

In fact it is an offence to idle your engine on a public road and further an offence to quit a vehicle (ie leave running unattended), as some coach drivers do.

If you ask them about this they often give various excuses about having to do their checks, the ABS system and how it is the law etc.

I have looked into this and now challenge their excuses which really are unfounded.

The excuse I often hear is that they need to charge up their brakes (ABS). In fact, if they have to run their engine for more than two minutes, then they have a problem with their ABS and the vehicle as such could be defective.

Another excuse they give is that they need to do their checks and so need to have their engines running to do this. In fact this is not following the government coach drivers’ standards, which state drivers should do all pre-start checks, plan their start up to minimise excessive engine idling and waste of fuel, before they start their engines.

I have been trying to raise this issue in a small way where I live and have written to coach firms etc but I have noticed it happens across Bournemouth.

If all these coach drivers turned off their engines when stationary and only turned them on when about to leave, think of all the energy they would save, how much less pollution they would produce and how much nicer Bournemouth would be. Ultimately, they could also help save our planet.

Maybe next time a driver gives you one of their excuses you could educate them, as from my experience so far an awful lot of coach drivers need to go back to school.

JANE COOKE, Grove Road, Bournemouth