Stagecoach calls in Fire Service after third blaze

Bus operator Stagecoach has called in the Fire Service to investigate the latest blaze in its Auckland fleet, despite indicating it first wanted a chance to make its own assessment.

Fire safety officer Ray Coleman said the company asked him yesterday morning to examine the bus that was engulfed by flames in a North Shore street on Sunday night, while a mechanic was driving it to its depot after the driver reported a diesel leak.

But Stagecoach engineering director Allan Cannell denied acting under pressure from the Auckland Tramways Union, which wanted an outside assessment to reassure drivers and passengers after the company's third bus fire in six months.

He said the Fire Service helped the company to investigate the first two fires, which occurred within days of one another after electrical faults on German-made MAN 700-series buses, and he had never ruled out asking for similar help this time.

Mr Coleman could not rule out a common cause between these fires and the latest blaze, even though it involved a much newer model.

The latest fire has alarmed Auckland Regional Transport Authority officials overseeing about $48 million of annual passenger subsidies paid to Stagecoach.

But passenger services general manager Heather Haselgrove said she was reassured the firm had called in the Fire Service to investigate. She said the authority was satisfied with the way the company responded to the previous fires, although "we didn't expect there to be yet another one".

Union president Gary Froggatt was also relieved the Fire Service was investigating the blaze, but accused Stagecoach of refusing to supply reports on the early fires.

He said drivers needed to know what was causing the fires, especially as they were facing questions from anxious passengers.

Mr Cannell denied knowledge of any such request, but said Mr Froggatt knew how to reach him.

He said diesel was not an explosive fuel and, had any passengers been aboard the bus on Sunday, they should have had enough time to get out.