The big enforcement bulls eye on the back of the motorcoach industry has taken another major hit.

Drivers are being put out of service because they had alcohol that belonged to them in the luggage bay.

Thats right, even though the alcohol was locked and stored in the baggage bay, and the drivers had neither consumed any of the booze nor displayed signs of impairment, state safety inspectors put the drivers out of service.

The drivers were cited for violation of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulation 392.5 Alcohol Prohibition.

The rule does not define alcohol possession but rather what possession is not. The vagueness has left the door open for those inspectors who seem hell bent these days to find "something."

In two recent cases, the inspectors only became aware the alcohol was on the bus because the drivers answered truthfully when asked.

Of course, the irony of the aggressive enforcement has not been lost on those who monitor the industry.

The fact is the 56 passengers sitting directly behind the driver can legally possess and liberally consume alcohol.

So, the stepped-up possession enforcement is not for having alcohol on the bus, but rather that the driver had ownership of alcohol that was somewhere on the coach.

Long-time coach operators say it is legal, however, for a driver to use the bus for personal use after his work day is done. At that time, he can go to a store and buy alcohol to bring back to his room.

And while all this may seem silly to some, in the final analysis law enforcement professionals can and do rationalize their reasons for regulatory extremes . . . and then go about their business, yanking drivers out of service.

And, when they do, the problem becomes really serious.

Those same federal regulations that prohibit drivers from consuming alcohol within four hours of going on duty or while driving also prescribe strict requirements and onerous hoops drivers must jump through before they can get back behind the wheel.

It also can cost an operator thousands of dollars to hire a replacement coach.

For eons, a coach stopping at a Canadian duty-free store before re-entering the U.S. meant a complimentary bottle of wine for the driver and tour director. Quickly stashed in the drivers suitcase in the baggage bay, "possession" was thought to have been averted.

Same for a bottle of beer stashed in a small cooler in the baggage bay brought on board by the driver for a relaxing moment in the evening after babysitting 56 demanding passengers all day.

Those days have disappeared.