Events of note
to
The expected announcement that Go-Ahead would take over Thamesdown Transport was finally announced on Friday February 3rd 2017!
THE financial plight of Thamesdown Transport was
so serious that the council was urged to sell the company by March or risk it
collapsing, according to information which has now come to light. On Wednesday
evening, senior Swindon borough councillors met behind closed doors to approve
an offer from the Go-Ahead group worth £7.2m.
The sale of Thamesdown Transport’s Barnfield Road depot
was also approved with a separate price tag of £4m. The deal with Go South
Coast, which operates several south coast bus and coach companies, was
officially signed yesterday. The decision to sell the council-owned bus firm was
taken amid concerns about its future financial viability.
Poor performance figures have been publicised before but
now we can reveal just how serious the problems were at Thamesdown.
Negotiations over the future of the company have been
shrouded in secrecy, staff have been threatened with dismissal and the council
has conducted their business behind a confidentiality shield.
The company was on track to record a loss of £149,000 at
the end of the current financial year — this would have taken its combined
losses over the past five years to almost £2m.
An annual management fee that Thamesdown was supposed to
pay the council was waived in 2013/14 and no payments have been made since.
With the future looking similarly bleak and with no clear
path to profit, the council sought expert advice last year on what to do next.
They were urged to sell the company, to do so as soon as
possible, and certainly before the end of March.
Accordingly, bids were sought from established bus
operators around the UK and of those that came forward, Go-Ahead’s was the most
attractive. It is suggested the initial offer was in the region of £8.5m.
However due diligence visits later uncovered staff
shortages in the engineering and cleaning departments, issues with cleanliness,
faults with equipment and mechanical problems with vehicles that all pushed the
value down to the £7.2m agreed by the cabinet on Wednesday.
The council may be getting in the region of £7m
initially, by the time financial obligations and pension requirements left
behind by Thamesdown are accounted for, only about half of that, between £3m and
£4m, will remain.
The separate £4m from the Barnfield Road depot sale is
expected to be reinvested as part of the council’s commercial investment
strategy.
As part of the deal, the council has sought assurances
that Go Ahead will not sell the depot within the first five years.
Existing routes are expected to continue as advertised,
services funded by the council will carry on in accordance with the local bus
strategy agreed last year.
The council was also facing challenging financial
pressures of its own, a review of the bus company concluded that the sale of
Thamesdown Transport to an established operator would be in the best interest of
council taxpayers, Thamesdown’s staff and its customers.
Following a competitive process Go South Coast’s bid was
assessed as offering the best value to the Council, which wholly owns the
company.
The offer from Go South Coast, the terms of which are
commercially confidential, was for all the council’s shares and the freehold of
Thamesdown’s Barnfield depot.
Go South Coast Managing Director Andrew Wickham said “This
is an excellent opportunity for us to develop the services on offer to local
people here in Swindon and North Wiltshire.
“We’re keen to point out that it’s business as usual as far as our customers are concerned. Any tickets or passes they have will still be valid, and our 85 buses will continue to serve existing routes without any schedule alterations.
“That said, our ultimate aim is to
enhance the services on offer here. As part of this, we will be consulting with
local people and listening to the needs of those who travel on our buses.
"Our team will be engaging with representatives of local bus users about our
plans to invest in local services.
“We are excited to be providing vital sustainable transport in this region,
and I have no doubt our talented team will make a complete success of our new
venture.
“I look forward to meeting with our local customers and hearing their views
over the coming weeks and months."
The firm has appointed Alex Chutter, currently operations manager at sister company Salisbury Reds, to take the reins at Thamesdown as General Manager.
55006 passing VCS, London on January 24th by Gavin
Francis
European express coach operator has given notice to Stagecoach that it is ending
its contract. This includes its Megabus services from the UK to the continent.
Stagecoach is “in discussions with FlixBus about the specific timing of any
changes.”
In a statement, Stagecoach says: "Since July 2016, we have operated a number of
inter-city coach services between the UK and mainland Europe under contract to
FlixBus.
“We have now received notice from FlixBus that it no longer requires us to
operate these services on its behalf.
"We have met with trade union representatives to discuss the implications for
the people we employ on this contract work.
“We appreciate this will be unsettling news for the employees involved and as a
matter of course we will be keeping them regularly updated.
“Megabus.com services in the UK, which we continue to operate directly, are not
affected by this development."
National Express Group (NEG) has bought respected family-owned
independent, Clarkes of London. It runs 56 coaches from its Lower Sydenham base,
halfway between Croydon and the city.
Says NEG: “The acquisition expands our significant presence in the commuter
and private hire markets. It will be business as usual for our customers and the
Clarkes team.”
Clarkes will be managed by Gillingham, north Kent-based The Kings Ferry;
itself bought by NEG nine years ago. Its MD, Ian Fraser, adds the new role of MD
at Clarkes to his duties.
The purchase price has not been revealed. Clarkes is financially strong; its
latest accounts for the year ending 30 April showed a £329,667 pre-tax profit on an £8.4m turnover, a 3.9% margin. Its net assets were £4.3m and its acid ratio
0.44.
Mr Fraser says: “It’s a company I’ve look at and admired for some time. The
Kings Ferry has benefitted from the economies of scale by being part of a plc,
and I’m sure this will also help Clarkes.”
There is plenty of room for expansion at Clarkes, which already has a
70-vehicle O-Licence and space for 100 vehicles in its modern yard. The Kings
Ferry runs 75 coaches.
Commuter coaches are 20% of Clarkes’ turnover. It gives NEG a strong
portfolio of corporate work and private hire – especially inbound tourism, an
area that The Kings Ferry is weaker in – to the group.
The firm, founded in 1958 by coal hauliers Edwin and Lillian Clarke, soon developed into coaching. In 1972 his eldest son, Bill Clarke and his wife, took control and began to broaden the services.
Stagecoach South East
is to unveil its new Mercedes-Benz minibus fleet, branded ‘Little & Often,’
early next month, CBW can
reveal.
The 30-strong fleet is
to be launched at a special event at the McArthur Glen Designer Outlet Centre,
Ashford on Saturday, February 11 –
with the vehicles set to enter service the following day.
The order for the
Mercedes-Benz Sprinter City 45 minibuses, a new type for Stagecoach, was
included in the 2016 fleet order, which was announced last April.