Banned firm sells its buses on eBay
BUSES run by a firm stripped of its right to operate routes in North Wales are on sale on eBay.
Express Motors has put 28 of its 70 vehicles on the online auction site days after its services in Gwynedd and Anglesey ceased under orders from the Traffic Commissioner.
The firm had its licence to operate revoked in August, with the action deferred to allow time for a new company, Express Motors (Caernarfon) Ltd, to be set up with new management to avoid interrupting services.
But a public inquiry for the licence application will not be heard until January 17, and its bus services ended on New Year’s Eve.
One of the firm’s former directors, Ian Wyn Jones, said: “We are selling them all. We have to after losing our licence. We will just have to start from the beginning.”
The vehicles on eBay include 25 midi-buses bought by the company between 2009 and 2016 which can carry 35 people – no prices are listed for these.
Also available are two double deckers, including one with a partial open-top which was used on the Snowdon Sherpa service between Llanberis and Pen y Pass in the summer.
The Sherpa double decker is listed at £15,000 while the other is a more modest £3,500.
Express Motors operated many tendered services for Gwynedd council, and other operations included the Welsh Government’s TrawsCymru long-distance network.
These have now been let to other operators.
A spokesman for Traffic Commissioner Nick Jones said the firm’s application remained outstanding because his office had received a report of unsatisfactory maintenance, including a bus losing a wheel in an incident at Bontnewydd. If a licence is granted the new company could then register to operate bus services in competition with other companies.
Last Tuesday, seven men appeared at Caernarfon Crown Court to deny conspiring to commit fraud in connection with Express Motors, and will face a jury trial in September.