Le Figaro Nice
A Côte d'Azur transport company, a subcontractor of the Ligne d'Azur agency of the Nice Metropolis, has been the target of serious accusations since Tuesday.
The TACAVL company, located in Châteauneuf-Grasse (Alpes-Maritimes), allegedly lets its bus drivers hit the road intoxicated.
In any case, this is what Suzanne Saragley, driver and staff representative, argued with
BFM Côte d'Azur
and what she maintained on Wednesday with Le
Figaro
.
The latter cites as proof an incident dating back to November 23.
That day, a company driver who was on duty at 5 a.m. was allegedly prevented from setting off by the breathalyzer integrated into the truck, which is supposed to prevent drunk driving.
“He went to see his manager who immediately told him: “you stink of alcohol!”
,” explains Suzanne.
The driver's drunkenness would have been sufficiently obvious for several other colleagues to notice it.
Moreover, it was they who, very quickly, would have referred it to their staff representative.
“Above all, they explained to me that the manager, upset that the driver was not covering his tour, had put him on another tour at 5:30 a.m., with an electric bus without a breathalyzer
,” she continues.
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Two days of layoff
A barely believable decision that Suzanne immediately wanted to have confirmed by the manager himself.
“He told me that everything was fine and that in any case he had no choice but to send him on his tour because in terms of staffing, it was tight... Rather than telling him to return home, he put him on the road with all the risks that entails!”
, she remembers, still taken aback.
A tour around Carros (Alpes-Maritimes), on often dangerous roads, from 5:30 a.m. to noon.
“As a staff representative, I am supposed to be a safeguard, I cannot let such a lack of responsibility slide
,” she slips.
The latter sent an email the same day to the director of the company, Michel Maurel.
No answer.
She then decides to call him.
“He minimized it, saying that he must not have been that drunk since he was not staggering
,” she reports.
Contacted by
Le Figaro
, the TACAVL company did not respond.
At
BFM Côte d'Azur
, Michel Maurel essentially confirmed his employee's story, adding that the driver in question had waited
"1h30"
before setting off on November 23, no doubt time to sober up.
And the boss clarified that he has since been sanctioned.
“He took two days off work.
Unlike his manager who, factually, is at least if not more responsible than the driver!”
, Suzanne annoys.
Also read: Two new bus drivers tested positive for drugs after an accident near Nice
A common practice
Above all, this incident would have, according to her, shed light on a practice that was as dangerous as it was alarming within TACAVL.
This involves the “unplugging” or clandestine deactivation of alcohol immobilizers in several buses.
“It’s a kind of wire that you can manipulate and which allows you to start the bus without blowing.
We noticed that 17, out of a fleet of 50, had been unsealed
,” protests Suzanne.
However, according to her, nothing would have been put in place to compensate for this flaw known to many employees.
The latter also regrets the lack of mobilization of the Nice Metropolis.
“After all, it is the Metropolis which gives the orders, we are only subcontractors.
My boss is only the agent,”
she observes.
Aware of the wrath she risks attracting within her company, Suzanne assumes:
“I feel legitimate in what I do, I am upright in my boots and I tell the truth.
And above all, I have no regrets if this way I can save lives
,” she concludes.
Contacted on numerous occasions, the Métropole de Nice also did not respond.
In
Nice Matin
, the director of Ligne d'Azur (RLA) Gaël Nofri confirmed that the incident was reported to him
“immediately by the subcontractor who decided on his own to sanction the driver and the supervisor »
.
Regarding the disconnected breathalyzers, the latter claims to have referred it to the boss of TACAVL who initially told him that all this was
“false”
, before recognizing that
“this had been the case on five buses, that it was was a false manipulation and that it had been repaired immediately.
Regarding RLA's responsibility, Gaël Nofri recalls that it has the right to request an inspection of vehicles but
“not of staff.”