A massive congratulations to the Scottish Government's "free" bus pass for under 22s scheme!
Not only do we now have hard working bus drivers having more of their wages stolen in order to pay for a bunch of rowdy drunk teenagers to travel into Kilmarnock's town centre, we have our drivers being spat on, assaulted and verbally abused by the very children who are taking full advantage of the ability to travel. And to top it off, when the kids have finished their abuse, they get to go home in the very same buses they spat all over!
I'm trying really hard to come up with a list of benefits these kids get from their "free" bus pass that you and I have to pay for...
Let's see:
They get to travel by bus at night to meet other friends and then travel to central locations to fight with their rivals.
They save money, so can spend more of cheap booze, fags and drugs.
They get to go home afterwards without any fear of consequences you or I would expect if we acted in the same way.
This has resulted in the first bus station being abandoned by the very people expected to work there. As reported in the Daily Record, Stagecoach issued a statement stating that they were no longer going to permit busses to enter Kilmarnock's bus station after 6pm.
Well ,what is the "solution" to this? The obvious one is to undo the policy that brought us here. But politicians do not like to admit they made a mistake. They'll probably call for a stronger police presence in the area, or start planning even more ridiculous laws to pretend they're countering the symptom rather than killing the disease they created.
Make no mistake about this. The blame for this lies straight at the feet of the Scottish Government and their incompetence.
End the "free" bus passes now!
Guest contribution by:
Stephen McNamara
Political Consultant