Improved behaviour has seen Silcox Coaches lift its prohibition on unaccompanied teenagers using the Friday night Kilgetty to Tenby bus service. Coach company owner Mr. Keith Silcox was forced to introduce the prohibition earlier on this year because he felt the drunken antics by a group of teenagers using the bus represented a serious safety risk to both the bus driver and other passengers. Mr. Silcox had been aware that there were problems on the 10.15 pm service bus from Tenby to Kilgetty, due in the main to the number of teenagers who had obviously been drinking, but matters had come to a head when new vehicles fitted with CCTV were used which clearly showed the scale of the problem. When one of the new vehicles had its roof damaged, it was the last straw and, following consultation with Pembrokeshire County Council and the police, Mr. Silcox introduced a prohibition on teenagers below the age of 18 using the route from 6 pm on a Friday night, unless accompanied by a responsible adult. Following concerns expressed that this prohibition was having a negative effect on responsible teenagers, Mr. Silcox met with representatives of Tenby, Saundersfoot and Kilgetty councils, the local police, Greenhill School and local AM Angela Burns to discuss the matter and agreed to a six-week experiment whereby the police and staff at the school would monitor how the teenagers behaved on the service if the prohibition was lifted. At a follow-up meeting on Friday, Mr. Silcox felt that the experiment had been a success, and there appeared to be no problems on the service at present. As such, he felt that teenagers could now continue to use the service, although he still reserved the right to prevent those under the influence of alcohol, or those carrying alcohol from boarding. He also reserved the right to cancel the service altogether should the situation deteriorate again. Everyone at the meeting agreed that there could be no room for complacency and it was felt that random spot checks would still be carried out on the service to ensure behaviour was at an acceptable level. Particular attention would also be paid to key times in the school calendar like the end of term. "I think the message has got home to students that, if they want to use the service, they have to behave responsibly," commented Greenhill teacher, Mr. Julian Dessent. "Mr. Silcox and his staff should never have been put in the position they were." The police and the school will also be continuing to work together to tackle the issue of underage drinking that led to the ban in the first place. "I believe that Mr. Silcox's action has brought the whole issue of underage drinking out into the open," said Mayor of Tenby, Clr. John Griffiths. "The school and the police are working hard at educating the students, but I also think that parents need to shoulder some of the responsibility too. "Tenby Town Council set up these meetings in response to concerns that parents raised over the prohibition. Parents have got to realise, too, that the community is concerned about the way some of their children behave and will not tolerate bad behaviour any more. "Mr. Silcox has agreed to lift the ban, now it's up to the teenagers to show that they can use the buses in a responsible manner."
