With the loss of the 56.....

[Westy]

They really should have run up to Norton Canes at least & done a circle round there.

[Metrorider]

It's the middle management that's the problem I think. Simon at the very top does seem to have good intentions, but there are far too many middle management that want to pull the company in totally different directions to each other. Then of cause you've got the problem that they keep employing middle and lower management that seem to love nothing more than making the drivers lives as miserable as possible and the pay just doesn't justify the hassle and grief, hence they've now ended up with a very  demotivated workforce that don't really care (can't blame them) and management that's on their backs constantly looking for any excuse to issue written warnings or generally make things as hard as possible. I owe Diamond a lot, they were the first bus company I ever worked for and where I gained my experience and it wasn't that bad at that stage. But now it's changed a lot speaking to drivers I still know there.

Shame really because Diamond does have a hell of a lot of potential (and there honestly are good parts about the company), and I know it's not easy to compete in the West Midlands against NXWM, but a lot of the problems within come from a very demotivated workforce. I know there need to be rules but Diamond have seen a lot of good drivers walk in recent times due to the way the rules are being enforced.

I do hope diamond can turn things around, particularly in Redditch and Kidderminster but until they realise that hard line management isn't working they'll keep losing drivers which in turn will see more driver churn and more reliability issues.