This has caused serious problems for passengers in the area, as extreme weather conditions have made these staff shortages a further problem for GNE. The official account on twitter stated that "The extreme temperatures have had a knock-on effect on vehicle systems, particularly batteries, engines, and air systems, which can struggle in sub-zero conditions. This has impacted our ability to run some services as scheduled."
Engineers have responded that these issues have been aggravated by GNE's negligence for their vehicles: "Defects are reported and we are told to just clear fault codes and send them on their way. They'd rather hide the faults than fix them." These decisions have only made the issues worse than they would be if they were dealt with sooner, meaning more work and more engineering staff needed.
Passengers have voiced their concerns about the aging buses and the poor conditions they are in, particularly for the ways in which rural areas of the North East have been treated. Short-notice delays and cancellations are causing problems for people trying to attend work, school, and hospital appointments. These issues are claimed to be killing rural services.
The firm has brought in contractors to its depots to solve the problem temporarily, but claims from staff that the engineers are being offered low pay rates suggest GNE will struggle to find new staff to fix these problems in the long-term.