Lothian Buses executive directors to leave the company

Lothian Buses has revealed all four of its executive directors are to leave the company over the next two years.

Tony Depledge, Chairman of Lothian Buses, used a meeting of the Lothian Buses board on Wednesday, January 21, to set out his plans to tackle the company’s recent management issues. As previously reported in CBW, there has been an ongoing boardroom rift between CEO Ian Craig and Operations Director Bill Campbell, Engineering Director Bill Devlin and Finance Director Norman Strachan.

It was accepted that a review of management, organisational and remuneration arrangements would be carried out, the current Executive Directors will leave the company over the next two years and succession planning arrangements will be put in place with transition, continuity and stability prioritised.

Chairman of Lothian Buses Tony Depledge said: “My commitment is to ensure that Lothian Buses is equipped to thrive as a modern, agile business to the benefit of its customers and to the wider city economy as part of an integrated network.
“Recent months have been bruising and damaging for this company in terms of its reputation but, in terms of its performance as a business, we continue to succeed. However, for this success to be sustainable it’s vital that we restore confidence and stability to the leadership of Lothian Buses.
“This means that change is required. This decision hasn’t been taken lightly and issues raised in recent weeks have led me to the understanding that structure and governance need action.
“I see a management team with strong individual  qualities and talents but with deep seated relationship issues. We must start a process to help solve those problems. The Board of Directors will want to ensure that any changes made will be in the best interests of the company as a whole.

“I want Lothian Buses to retain the level of skills and expertise it needs through this period. My focus with the Executive Directors will be on effective succession planning to achieve a logical and realistic process of change. We want to have the right people in place to manage the business and we need to take account of changes as people retire or move on.”