Forum | Merseyside Dennis Dart Website

(18/10/2020 23:23)Liamkennedy2231 Wrote: [ -> ]bustimes.org shows them as still operating the no. 2 school bus in Runcorn. Whether that is accurate or not I am unsure to be honest.

https://www.vehicle-operator-licensing.s...nce/286699
https://www.vehicle-operator-licensing.s...nce/336797

SPRINGFIELD BUS & COACH CO LTD & HOWARDS TRAVEL SERVICES no longer hold any operator licences

(18/10/2020 19:57)AlexBus12 Wrote: [ -> ]Does anyone know if Howard's are still trading? I was going to ask on that thread but the thread is closed, and given that there's a good relationship between MP and Howard's, I thought I'd ask here.

They had their licences revoked. No-one seemed to know exactly why but it resulted in the 48 transferring to Warrington's Own Buses part way through a day and the Omega work shuttles going to MP Travel. The 48 registration was showing as expired on VOSA when they were still running it, so it may have been a paperwork error resulted in them operating a fare paying service which hadn't been registered but then it may have been Howards did the paperwork correctly and someone put it on the system incorrectly.

(17/10/2020 23:48)Liamkennedy2231 Wrote: [ -> ]Personally I think the route will remain with them so Runcorn don’t have the hassle of it. But we shall see!

That isn't going to happen

Is this X1 operation in the hands of MP Travel because of a shortage of staff due to Coronavirus decimating staff availability at Arriva

(19/10/2020 16:49)wirralbus Wrote: [ -> ]Is this X1 operation in the hands of MP Travel because of a shortage of staff due to Coronavirus decimating staff availability at Arriva

Exactly that

MP Travel License increase.

MP TRAVEL GROUP LIMITED
Director(s): Garreth McAllister-partridge
MP TRAVEL, BELLHOUSE LANE, HIGHER WALTON, WARRINGTON, WA4
6TR
Increase at existing operating centre: MP TRAVEL, BELLHOUSE LANE,
HIGHER WALTON, WARRINGTON, WA4 6TR
New authorisation at this operating centre will be: 8 vehicle(s)

A limited company must publish its finances and a list of who its board members are. If you plan to work for a company or buy from a company you can then check how long the business has operated for, whether its finances are sound and whether the board members have previously been involved with any other companies and what's happened to them. If the same directors have previously been involved in 5 different companies which have all become insolvent and set up a new company 3 months ago which has job vacancies, would you want to work for that company?

If a company does not want to make that information available then it can become an unlimited company, that means finances don't have to be published but the directors are then personally responsible for any debts the business can't settle.

Anyone who held a season ticket or had paid a deposit for coach hire at the time Howards stopped operating had a legal right to know what was going on with the company, as they were unsecured creditors of the business. As were Cheshire West council and Omega who had paid money to Howards to operate a contract, in the case of Cheshire West that was taxpayers money meaning any council tax payer in Cheshire West then has a right to know what happened. (In the same way we all found out what happened with GHA but obviously Howards were a much smaller company with fewer contracts.)

Companies House shows that a court appointed Howell Jones LLP to wind up Springfield Bus & Coach Ltd due to the company being insolvent and that happened on 29 June 2018, with the winding up being completed on 02 July 2019 and the company being dissolved on 02 October 2019. Whether that relates to the Traffic Commissioner revoking the licence for Ian Howard is a different question though.

Remember guys this Feed is for MP Travel so we should return to that topic.

Has anyone been observing MP on the X1 the past few days? If so, are buses sticking to the same trips each day or are they all appearing randomly?

(22/10/2020 17:48)iMarkeh Wrote: [ -> ]Has anyone been observing MP on the X1 the past few days? If so, are buses sticking to the same trips each day or are they all appearing randomly?

For the first two days, I observed and it stayed the same:
Vehicle 1 - MP20 BUS - MCV Evora
Vehicle 2 - SN57 DDA - Wright Eclipse B7RLE
Vehicle 3 - MP68 BUS - ADL Enviro 200MMC
Vehicle 4 - W13 MPT - MCV Evolution

‘Vehicle 1’ is out the longest and ‘Vehicle 4’ is out the shortest, from what I’ve deducted. I worked this out purely from the timetable, so this could be wrong.

So it’d make sense to have the MCV Evora as ‘Vehicle 1’ as it is MPT’s ‘flagship’ bus so to speak. With the Evolution being the least interesting/least favourite (in my view), it would make sense to have that as ‘Vehicle 4’. Therefore from the first two days, I assumed this was the logical answer to the allocations made, and that was how it was going to stay.

However, today I observed again (I didn’t have time to observe yesterday, so it could’ve also been the case yesterday), and new allocations had been made as follows:
Vehicle 1 - W13 MPT - MCV Evolution
Vehicle 2 - MP20 BUS - MCV Evora
Vehicle 3 - MP68 BUS - ADL Enviro 200MMC
Vehicle 4 - W11 MPT - Plaxton President/SN57 DDA - Wright Eclipse B7RLE

The President ran up until the 1015 trip to Halton Hospital (and is probably the first decker to run X1!) and then had seemingly swapped with the Eclipse thereafter.

So, the allocations do seem to be changing at the moment, and interesting allocations at that!

I wonder when the Commuter will enter service?