Bankrupt bus firm’s contracts put for tender by transport body
BUS companies have until Friday to lodge bids to take over 20 contracts formerly operated by bankrupt firm, Henderson Travel.
The routes were farmed out to other operators by transport body Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) using emergency powers after the Lanarkshire company ceased trading on October 30.
The majority – 13 – went to Ayrshire-based McGill’s to run on a temporary basis from October 31, with Whitelaw’s buses also taking on a couple of services. However, SPT has now issued an invitation to tender to 27 pre-selected bus companies who meet the criteria to operate all 20 subsidised routes, which include services in Lanarkshire, Glasgow and East Dunbartonshire and an on-demand MyBus service in South Lanarkshire.
It is unknown at this stage which bus companies have been shortlisted. They have until Friday to submit bids. According to the invitation to tender – distributed on December 1 – SPT will only consider bids by operators willing to take on all 20 routes as a bundle. O p er at or s must SPT-owned vehicles.
It comes after The Herald revealed that SPT assistant chief executive in charge of operations, Eric Stewart, was able to hand almost £5 million worth of subsidised bus contracts to Henderson Travel in the 10 months before it went bust without declaring publicly a conflict of interest.
His son, Neil Stewart, was employed by Henderson Travel as a transport manager, a senior position, but under SPT rules executive members – unlike elected officials – are not obliged to disclose
also
use conflicts during committee meetings. Instead, Mr Stewart had lodged the family link last year in an internal Register of Conflicts held at SPT headquar ters. However, this is impossible to verify as the register is private and the information held on it cannot be accessed, even under freedom of information laws.
Henderson Travel was called before the Traffic Commissioner for Scotland on November 17, after the business was already in administration, to answer matters raised following an investigation by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA). The public inquiry did not conclude on the day and will be reconvened at a later date to continue taking evidence.
It is understood that some councillors on SPT’s operations committee have raised concerns over the way the bulk of Henderson Travel’s contracts were transferred to McGill’s, the Ayrshire-based bus firm run by Rangers directors James and Sandy Easdale.
McGill’s took over 24 hours after Henderson Travel entered administration and some councillors are said to have queried how SPT could ensure best value for the public purse with such a short turnaround time and whether other operators were considered.
However, a spokeswoman for SPT said: “As soon as SPT was notified of Henderson’s not operating subsidised routes, we evoked emergency powers to make sure passengers were not left without a bus service. This is standard practice and a number of operators were contacted. However, given the size and range of services required, only one was able and willing to step in at very short notice.
“McGill’s has been running the services in the interim.”