OFT Investigations

[Garsty]

OFT Investigations
I was going to mention this in the 'Stagecoach Manchester' thread, but at the moment it seems to be applying to a number of areas.

These investigations seem a bit strange, I am not saying they should not happen, but why start them once the takeover has happened?

Such as in Glasgow with McGill’s, the investigation being announced a few weeks after the takeover which meant buses having to be painted back into Arriva livery.

Surely leaving them to after the takeover just causes inconvenience and uncertainty for all involved?

When a takeover is announced why does an investigation not begin immediately? I know some might be because of another company complaining later on, but surely there should be a set amount of time they should have to do this in before the takeover.

Take Wigan, deal announced 31st October, takeover 2nd December and now an investigation announced 11th January.

[wirralbus]

RE: OFT Investigations
If the investigation subsequently states Stagecoach cant have the company then what next , does this now mean that some vehicles will have to be put back into a hybrid stagecoach / first livery .

[T42 PVM (Moderator)]

RE: OFT Investigations
dont think anyone else could get wigan as the only other people who would go for it would be arriva but they run services into wigan already

[MTL0201]

RE: OFT Investigations
Arriva only operate a few mainly interurban services in Wigan, can't see what's to stop them buying Wigan. However it's bonkers it's even being investigated as Stagecoach only operate one route into Wigan before the takeover unlike the situation in Preston, although it was Preston Bus who asked Stagecoach to buy them.

[T42 PVM (Moderator)]

RE: OFT Investigations
if arriva do get the depot then wigan will be mostly arriva plus with SLT in trouble they may not last (hope they do last) wigan would be huge on arriva stagecoach are already big there so if they was able to keep preston bus then it well would be a monopoly so much to talk about these

[mbonwick]

RE: OFT Investigations
There's nothing to talk about....

OFT investigation is standard fare with transactions of these types, though I can't see why it has taken so long for them to get started. Really they should have been looking as soon as the deal was announced.

Yes its stupid, and there's always the chance that they'll come up with some stupid findings but there's no point speculating. 25th Feb isn't that far away so just wait and see.

[J654UHN]

RE: OFT Investigations
Nothing at Wigan has been repainted as yet just stagecoach logos applied to vehicles. If the OFT Say no all thy have to do is remove the logos. The new stuff belongs to stageoach so would leave

[T42 PVM (Moderator)]

RE: OFT Investigations
wonder if them excels have been scrapped coz if so that would leave wigan short

[motormayhem]

RE: OFT Investigations
All i can say is the OFT must be looking at it as manchester in a whole,as first and stagecoach are big with in the boundries of manchester compared to what arriva run within the manchester boundry as arriva are only a small time player in them areas but i guess we will just have to wait and see the outcome of the investigation.

[mbonwick]

RE: OFT Investigations

(12/01/2013 18:11)bolton bus basher Wrote:  wonder if them excels have been scrapped coz if so that would leave wigan short

How would that leave Wigan short when there's god knows how many MANs, Enviro200s and Enviro300s gone in?
Incidentally, none of the Excels have been scrapped as it is a requirement of the OFT investigation that the original assets are preserved.