Trouble raising finance for large insurance bill blamed for closure
One of Cornwall’s largest operators, Western Greyhound Ltd ceased trading on Friday (March 13) with the loss of around 160 jobs. In a letter handed to staff the firm said: “Our focus is to pay all outstanding monies to each member of staff as soon as possible. Additionally we are in immediate discussions with other bus operators to try and secure as many jobs as possible and we will write/email you with details of this.”
Western Greyhound, which has an O-licence for 120 vehicles at its Summercourt, Newquay head office, 20 at St Austell, two each at Quintrell Downs and Wadebridge, and 40 at Liskeard was acquired just three months ago by Michael Bishop although it was reported then that former Managing Director Mark Howarth would be staying on as a consultant.
Vehicles transferred in by the new owner included some from Eastleigh, Hampshire-based Black Velvet, which closed on January 10. Western Greyhound’s Liskeard outstation was sold to Plymouth CityBus just days before the main operation passed to Michael.
ITV News was told by Western Greyhound, which lost 37 vehicles in separate arson attacks at Summercourt and Liskeard over the past two years: “The reason for the company ceasing trading is due to a financial issue with the company’s insurance and we explored all alternatives to try and seek resolution to this and unfortunately that failed. We’ve spent most of the day today looking after the employees and making sure they’ve got other jobs to go to. We’ve asked First Group to attend this morning who are the other local bus company in order that they can start recruiting the staff.”
In a statement posted on its website Cornwell Council said: “Following the sudden closure of Western Greyhound we have been working hard with the industry to secure alternative services as quickly as possible.
“All real time information signs have been switched off to avoid confusion while the service timetables are being updated. There will still be some former Western Greyhound buses on the road from Monday (March 16) onwards but they will not be operated by Western Greyhound.”
Existing routes already provided by First means that some of Western Greyhound’s 20 services are not being replaced. As well as First, Stagecoach and Bodmin Group Travel are providing replacements for the others.
Mark, who together with Robin Orbell started Western Greyhound in 1997 said: “I am very sad that the new owner of Western Greyhound has had to cease trading. For many years, we had a wonderful team who worked very hard building a great company to a very high standard which was well-acclaimed, although sadly many factors such as two fires resulted in some operational problems last year. We sold the company on, hoping to see new investment and a return to those traditional high standards and a real start had been made in making such progress. It was gut-wrenching that the insurers required a full annual payment up-front rather than the traditional monthly instalments that were paid in the past. Cornwall Council, together with some local bus companies have done tremendously well to have replacement services up and running so quickly after this sudden announcement, and I do hope there can now be some stability in the market and that all the staff find suitable jobs”
